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THE 

IRISH-AMERICAN LIBRARY. 

VOLUME III. 



SERMONS, 

AND 

LECTURES ON MORAL AND HISTORICAL 
SUBJECTS. 



BY 

Very Rev. THOMAS N. BURKE, O.P. 




NEW YORK: A 

LYNCH, COLE & MEEHAN, 57 MURRAY STREET. 
1873. 



The Ldhia^KM 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



AVI ^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

LYNCH, COLE & MEEHAN, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



8tereotvped and Printed at the 
EW YORK CA1HOLIC PROTECTORY, 
West Chester, N. Y. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE discourses contained in the present volume comprise the most 
important and beautiful of the Sermons delivered in the United States 
by the Very Rev. Thomas N. Burke, O.P., as well as of his Lectures 
on moral and historical subjects, — all of which possess an interest for 
the Irish-American element of the community, not only as magnificent 
and praiseworthy efforts of one of the most gifted living orators of their 
race, but also on account of the testimony which they bear to the fidel- 
ity to faith, religious fervor, and national virtue exhibited by the Irish 
people in every vicissitude of fortune. As specimens of pulpit oratory, 
nothing can be imagined finer or more impressive than those discourses ; 
while the enlightened spirit, and broad, comprehensive views characteriz- 
ing the Lectures, — in which the great wants and deficiencies of 
society, in the present day, are analyzed with the acumen of a master- 
mind and the learning of a true Christian philosopher, — render them 
doubly valuable, even from a purely humanitarian point of view. 

The secret of Father Burke!s influence over his auditors, (and, indeed, 
over his readers, also, ) lies not so much in his eloquence — great as are 
his natural gifts in that particular — as in the convincing force of his 
sincerity, and the intensity of his zeal for the enlightenment, elevation, 
and sanctification of all his fellow creatures. On this point, one of the 
most eminent and well-known of American Catholic writers has said of 
the great Irish Dominican: — 

:4 Father Thomas Burke is known all over Europe, as a great 
apostolic preacher. It is especially in Rome, where most of his life 
has been passed, that his reputation is so great. Wherever he goes, 
after he has preached once, the faithful flock around the pulpit and 
around the church, if he preaches a second time, as bees gather round 
a bed of jessamines. * * * What is the power by which he holds, 
hushed and breathless, each one in a crowded congregation ; alike the 
most learned and critical, and the rough men with little either of senti- 
ment or education ? A natural gift of oratory no one can mistake in 
him. He has the richness of voice, and the persuasiveness of accent, 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



that God has lavished so largely on his countrymen. But these are 
'tricks of the tongue/ that the man of trained intellect can arm himself 
against, even while he admires them. But Father Burke disarms this 
trained, intellectual listener ; because, in him, it is neither trick nor art. 
It is the gift God has given him, and that he has consecrated to God ! 
The honey-dew that drops from his lips is distilled from a soul con- 
secrated to God, and an intellect saturated and steeped in the learning 
and piety of the Saints and Doctors of the Church." 

All the discourses given in this volume have been taken down by 
competent stenographers, with the utmost accuracy and fidelity, as 
delivered by Father Burke, and, in the course of compilation have beeu 
carefully revised, in order that they should not only be correct as to the 
text, but should, in every way, accord with the high reputation of the 
illustrious Dominican, who, as a preacher, stands to-day without a 
superior, and with scarce a rival. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

The Christian Man, the Man of the Day ... 9 
The Catholic Church, the Foster-Mother of Liberty . 25 
The Church, the Mother and Inspiration of Art . 48 
St. John the Evangelist . • . . . . .70 

Christ on Calvary 87 

The Catholic Church, the Salvation of Society . .110 

The Resurrection • 133 

The Catholic Mission 145 

The Constitution of the Catholic Church . . . 158 

The Attributes of Catholic Charity 180 

The Catholic Church, the True Emancipator . . 200 

The Month of Mary 219 

The Position and Dignity of the Mother of God . . 231 
Mary, the Immaculate Mother of God .... 240 
The Pope's Tiara, its Past, Present, and Future . . 250 

The Immaculate Conception • 272 

Catholic Education 288 

The Blessed Eucharist 306 

The Divine Commission of the Church • 325 



LECTURES AND SERMONS. 




THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY. 

I A Discourse Delivered by the Very Rev. T. 2T. Burke. O.P., in St. 
Paul's Church, Brooklyn, March 22, 1872.] 

My friends : I have selected, as the subject on which to 
address you, the following theme : — " The Christian Man the 
Man of the Day. 77 You may, perhaps, be inclined to suppose 
that I mean by this, that, in reality, the Christian man was 
the actual man of the day 5 that he was the man whom our age 
loved to honor 5 that he was the man who, recognized as a 
Christian man, received, for that very reason, the confidence of 
his fellow-men and every honor society could bestow upon him. 
Do not flatter yourselves, my friends, that this is my meaning. 
I do not mean to say that the Christian man is the man 
of the day. I wish I could say so. But what I do mean is, 
that the Christian man, and he alone, must be the man of the 
day ) that our age cannot live without him 5 and that we are 
fast approaching to such a point, that the world itself will be 
obliged, on the principle of self-preservation, to cry out for 
the Christian man. But to-day b he is not in the high places ; 
for the spirit of the age is not Christian. Now, mark you, 
there is no man living who is a greater lover of his age than I 
am : and, priest as I am, and monk as well, coming here before 
you in this time-honored old habit ; coming before the men of 
the nineteenth century, as if I were a fossil dug out of the soil 
of the thirteenth century, I still come before you as a lover of 
the age in which .we live, a lover of its freedom, a lover of its 
laws, and a lover of its material progress. But I still assert 
that the spirit of this nineteenth century of ours is not Catholic. 
Let me prove it. At this very moment, the Catholic Church, 
through her bishops, is engaged in a hand-to-hand and deadly 
conflict, in England, in Ireland, in Belgium, in France, in 




10 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Germany, aye, and in this country, with the spirit of the age ; 
and for what ? The men in power try to lay hold of the young 
child, to control that child's education, and to teach him all 
things except religion. But the bishops come and say : " This 
is a question of life and death, and the child must be a 
Christian. Unless he is taught of God, it is a thousand times 
better that he were never taught at all ; for knowledge with- 
out God is a curse, and not a blessing." Now, if ojir age were 
Christian, would it thus seek to banish God from the schools, 
to erase the name of God clean out of the heart of that little 
one, for whom Christ, the Son of God, shed his blood'? 

Another proof that the spirit of our age is anti- Christian, — 
for whatever contradicts Christ is anti- Christian : — Speaking 
of the most sacred bond of matrimony, which lies at the root 
of all society, at the fountain-head of all the world's future, 
Christ has said : " What God hath joined together,, let no 
man put asunder." But the Legislature — the " spirit of the 
age," as it is called^ — comes in and says : " I will not recognize 
this union as being from God : I reserve to myself the right 
to separate them." They have endeavored to substitute a 
civil marriage for the holy Sacrament which Christ sanctified 
by His presence, and ratified by His first miracle,— the sacra- 
ment which represents the union of Christ with His Church. 
" I will not let God join them together," says the State ; 
"let them go to a magistrate or a registrar." Let God 
have nothing to do with it. Let no sanctifying influence be 
upon them ; leave them to their own lustful desires, and to 
the full enjoyment of wicked passions, unchecked by God. 

Thus the State rules, in case of marriage, and says : " I 
will break asunder that bond." And it made the anti-Chris- 
tian law of " divorce." " Whom God joins together," says 
the Master of the world, whose word shall never pass away, 
though heaven and earth shall pass away, — "let no man 
separate." God alone can do it: the man who dares to do 
it shakes the very foundation of society, and takes the key- 
stone out of the arch. But the • State comes and says : " I 
will do it." This is the legislation — this is the spirit of 
our age. I do not mean to say that there were not 
sins and vices in other ages ; but I have been taught, from 
my earliest childhood, to look back, full six hundred years, 
to that glorious thirteenth century, for the bloom and flower 
of sanctity prospering upon the earth. Still, I have been so 



THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY, 11 



taught as not to shut my eyes to its vices ; and yet the spirit 
of that age was more Christian than the spirit of this. The 
spirit that had faith enough to declare that, whatever else 
was touched by profane hands, the sanctity of the marriage 
Sacrament was to remain inviolate ; when all recognized its 
living author as the Son of God. It had faith enough to 
move all classes of men as one individual, and as possessing 
one faith and one lofty purpose. And this is not the spirit 
of our age. Whom do we hear spoken of as the men who 
invent and make our telegraphs and railroads, and all the 
great works of the day ? We hear very little about Catholics 
being any thing generally but lookers-on in these great mat- 
ters ) that Catholics had nothing to do with them, and that 
they came in simply to profit by the labor of others. And 
yet do we not know that nearly every great discovery made 
upon this earth was made by some Catholic man or other ; 
and some of the greatest of them all made by old monks in 
their cloisters ? Therefore, as the spirit of the day makes the 
man of the day, I cannot congratulate you, my friends, that 
the man of the day is a Christian man. 

Now, I am here this evening, to prove to you, and to bring 
home to your intelligence, two great facts : remember them 
always : First — The man the world makes independent of 
God, is such an incubus and curse, that the world itself can- 
not bear him, that the world itself cannot endure him ; for, 
if he leaves his mark upon history, it is a curse, and for evil. 
Secondly — The only influence that can purify and save the 
world, is the spirit of that glorious religion which alone 
represents Christianity. Call me no bigot, if I say that the 
Catholic Church alone is the great representative of Chris- 
tianity. I do not deny that there is goodness outside of it, 
nor that there are good and honest men who are not of this 
Church. Whenever I meet an honest, truthful man, I never 
stop to inquire if he is Catholic or Protestant ; I am always 
ready to do him honor, as " the noblest work of God." But 
this I do say — all this is, in reality, represented in the 
Catholic Church. And I further assert that the Catholic 
Church alone has the power to preserve in man the conscious- 
ness that God has created him. 

And now, having laid down my opening remarks, let us 
look at the man of the day, and see what he is. Many of you 
have the ambition to become men of the day. It is a pleas- 



12 



FAIRER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



ant thing to be pointed at and spoken of as a man of the day. 
" There is a man who has made his mark." " There is a man 
of whom every one speaks well ; the intelligent man, the 
successful man, the man who is able to propound the law by- 
expressing his opinion j able to sway the markets 5 the man 
whose name is blazoned everywhere." You all admire this 
man. But let us examine him in detail — for he is made for 
mere 'show, a mere simulacrum of a man. Let us pick him in 
pieces, and see what is in this man of the day ; whether he 
will satisfy God or man 5 see whether he will come up to the 
wants of society or not. 

Man, I suppose you will all admit, was created by Al- 
mighty God for certain fixed, specific purposes and duties. 
Surely, the God of wisdom, of infinite love, — a God of infinite 
knowledge and freedom, — never communicated to an intel- 
ligent human being power and knowledge like His own, with- 
out having some high, grand, magnificent, and God-like 
purpose in view. A certain purpose must have guided Him. 
Certain duties must have attached to the glorious privileges 
that are thus imprinted on man's soul as the image of God. 
And hence, my friends, there are the duties man owes to the 
family ; the duties of the domestic circle ; the duties he owes 
to society, to those who come within the range of his 
influence, and within the circle of his friendship ; the duties 
he owes to his country and native land, — his political duties ; 
and, finally, over them all, permeating through them all, 
overshadowing all that is in him, there is his great duty to 
Almighty God, who made him. 

Now, what are man's duties in the domestic circle ? Surely, 
the first virtue of man in this circle is the virtue of fidelity, 
representing the purity of Christ in the man's soul ) the vir- 
tues of fidelity, stability, and immovable loyalty to the vows 
he has pledged before high heaven, and to all the con- 
sequences these vows have involved. God created man with 
a hearty disposition to love and to find the worthy object of 
his love ; and to give to that object the love of his heart, is 
the ordinary nature of man. A few are put aside — among 
them the priest and the monk and the nun, to whom God 
says, " I myself will be your love : n and they know no 
love save that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet they have the 
same craving for love, the same desire, and the same neces- 
sity.- But to them the Lord says: "I myself will be your 



THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY. 13 



love, your portion, your inheritance." These, I say, are 
those who are wrapt in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
This is not the time nor the occasion for me to dwell upon 
the infinite joy and substantial happiness of the days of those 
who have fastened their hearts upon the great heart of J esus 
Christ j but, for the ordinary run of mankind, love is a neces- 
sity ; and the Almighty has created that desire for love in 
the hearts of all men; and it has become sanctified and 
typical of the union of Christ with His Church 5 typical of 
the grace that Christ poured abroad upon her : and this love 
must lie at the very fountain-head of society ; it must sanctify 
the very spring whence all our human nature flows ; for it is 
out of this union of two loving hearts that our race is pro- 
pagated, and mankind continued to live on earth. What is 
that grace which sanctifies it ? I answer, it is the grace of 
fidelity. Understand me well ; there is nothing more erratic, 
nothing more changeable than this heart of man; nothing 
wilder in its acts, in its propensities, than this treacherous 
heart of man. I know of no greater venture that a human 
being can make than that which a young woman makes, when 
she takes the hand of a young man, and hears the oath from 
his lips that no other love than hers shall ever enter his 
heart. A treacherous, erratic heart is this of man 5 prone to 
change, prone to evil influences, excited by every form of pass- 
ing beauty. But from that union spring the obligations of 
father and mother to their progeny. Their children are to be 
educated 5 and as they grow up and bloom into the fulness 
of their reason, the one object of the Christian father and 
mother is to bring out in these children the Christianity that 
is latent in them. Christ enters into the young soul by Bap- 
tism ; but He lies sleeping in that soul, acting only upon the 
blind animal instincts of infancy ; and, as the child Wakes to 
reason, Christ that sleeps there must be awakened and devel- 
oped, until that child comes to the fulness of his intellectual 
age, and the man of God is fully developed in the child of 
earth. 

Now, how does the man of the day fulfil this end ? how 
does he fulfil these duties to his wife and to his children, 
these duties which we call the domestic duties ? This " clever 79 
man of the day — how does he fulfil them? He, perhaps, in 
his humbler days, before he knew to what meridian the sun 
of his fortune would rise, took to himself a fair and modest 



14 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



wife. Fortune smiled upon him. The woman remained 
content only with her first and simple love, and with fidelity 
to the man of her choice, and the duties which that love 
brought with them. But how is it with the man of the day ? 
Shall I insult the ears of the Christian by following the man 
of the day through all the dark paths of his iniquity ? Shall 
I describe to you the glance of his lustful eye, forgetful of the 
vows he has made to the one at home ? Can I tell you of 
the man of the day, following every passing form, — a mere 
lover of beauty ; without principle, without God, without 
virtue, and without a thought of the breaking hearts at home ? 
Shall I tell you of the man of the day trying to conceal the 
silvering hand of age as it passes over him, trying to retain 
the shadow of departed youth — and why ? Because all the 
worst vices of the young blood are there, for they are insepar- 
able from the man of the day. Sometimes, in some fearful 
example, he comes out before us in all his terrible deformity. 
The world is astonished — the world is frightened for a moment ; 
but men who understand all these things, better than you or 
I, come to us, and say : " Oh ! this is what is going on ; this 
is the order of the day." There is no vestige of purity, no 
vestige of fidelity. Mind and imagination corrupted ; the very 
flesh rotting, defiled by excess of unmentionable sin. Chil- 
dren are brought forth to him in all innocence, in all the 
magnificence of God-like purity : but the time comes when 
the State assumes that which neither God nor man ever 
intended it should assume — namely, the office of instructor ; 
when the State comes and says : " I will take the children ; 
I will teach them every thing excepting God ; I will bring 
them up clever men, but infidels, without the knowledge 
of God." Then the man of the day turns round to the 
State, and says, "Take the labor off our hands; these 
children are incumbrances ; we don't want to educate them : 
you say you will." But the Church comes in, like a true 
mother,— like the mother of the days of Solomon ; and, with 
heartbreaking accents, says to the father, u Give me the 
child 5 for it was to me that Christ said : 1 Go and teach j go 
and educate. 7 " But the father turns away. He will not 
trust his child to that instructor who will bring up this child 
as a rebuke to him in his old age for his wickedness, by its 
own virtue and goodness. The " spirit of the age " not only 
tolerates this, but actually assists all this. This man may 



THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY. 15 



tell his wife that she is not the undisturbed mistress of her 
house. He may come in with a writing of " divorce ?? in his 
hand, and turn his wife out of doors. Yes ; when her beauty 
and accomplishments are not up to the fastidious taste of this 
man of the day, he may call in the State to make a decree of 
" divorce," and depose the mother of his children, the queen 
of his heart. 

Let us now pass from the domestic to the social circle. He 
is surrounded by his friends and has social influence. He has 
a duty, to lay at least one stone in the building up of that 
society of which the Almighty created him a member, and of 
which He will demand an account in the hour of death. Every 
man is a living member of society. He owes a duty to that 
society. What is that duty ? It is a duty of truthfulness to 
our friends, a good example to those around us, a respect and 
veneration for every one, old and young, with whom we come 
in contact. Even the pagans acknowledge this in the maxim, 
" Maxima debetur puero reverential The man of the day 
opens his mouth to vomit forth words of blasphemy, or sicken- 
ing obscenity ) and before him may be the young boy, grow- 
ing into manhood, learning studiously, from the accomplished 
jester's lips, the lesson of iniquity and impurity that will ruin 
his soul. Hear him, and follow him into more refined and 
general society. What a consummate hypocrite he is, when 
he enters his own house, dressed for the evening ! With a 
smile upon his face, and with words of affection upon his 
adulterous lips, he addresses himself to his wife, or to his 
daughter, or to his lady friends. What a consummate hypo- 
crite he is ! Ah ! who would imagine that he knows every 
mystery of iniquity and defilement, even to its lowest depths ! 
Who would imagine that this smiling face has learned the 
smile of contempt for every thing that savors of virtue, of 
purity, and of God ! Who would imagine that the man who 
takes the virgin hand of the young girl in his, and leads her 
with so much confidence and so much gladness to the altar, — 
who would imagine that that man's hand is defiled by contact 
with every thing abominable that the demon of impurity could 
present to him ? Take him in his relations with his friends. 
Is he a trustworthy friend ? Is he a reliable man ? Will he 
not slip the wicked publication into the hands of his young 
friend, to instruct him in vice ? Will he not pass the obscene 
book from hand to hand, with a pleasant look, as though it 



16 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



were a good thing, although he knows the poison of hell is 
lurking between its leaves ? Is he a reliable man ¥ Is he 
trustworthy ? Go and ask his friends will they trust him ; and 
they will turn and laugh in your face, and tell you he is as 
u slipper}^ as an eel." 

This is the man of the day, — this boasted hero of ours, — 
in a social way. Pass a step farther on. Take him in his 
relations to his country, to its legislature, to its government. 
Tako him in what they call the political relations of life. 
What shall I say of him ? I can simply put it all in a nut- 
shell. I ask you, my friends, in this our day, suppose some- 
body were to ask you to say a good word for him, as for a 
friend ; suppose somebody were to ask you the character of 
the man 5 and suppose you said: "Well, he is an honest 
man 5 a man of upright character in business ; a man of well- 
ascertained character in society; a good father, a good hus- 
band, — but, you know — he is a politician ; " — I ask you, 
is there not something humiliating in the acknowledgment, 
— " he is a politician ? n Is it not almost as if you said 
something dishonorable, something bad! But there ought 
to be nothing dishonorable in it. On the contrary, 
every man ought to be a politician, — especially in this 
glorious new country, which gives every man a right of 
citizenship, and tells him : " My friend, I will not make a 
law to bind and govern you without your consent and per- 
mission ; 99 — -why, that very fact makes every man a politician 
among us. But if it does, does it not also recognize the 
grand virtue which underlies every free government ; which 
makes every man a sharer in its blessings, because he en- 
hances them by his integrity ; which makes politics not a 
shame and a disgrace, but something to be honored and 
prized as the aim of unselfish patriotism ? What is that ? It is 
a love, but not a selfish love, of one's country ; a love, not 
seeking to control or share its administration for selfish pur- 
poses — not to become rich — not to share in this, or take 
that — but to serve the country for its good, and to leave an 
honorable and unblemished name in the annals of that 
country's history. Is this the man of the day ? I will not 
answer the question. I am a stranger amongst you ; and it 
would be a great presumption in me to enter upon a dissertation 
on the politics of America. But this I do know, that, if the 
politicians of this country are as bad, or half as bad as their 



THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY. 17 



own newspapers represent them, it is no credit to a man to 
be a politician. Some time ago a fellow was arrested in 
France for having committed a robbery. He was taken 
before a magistrate and jury, and the prosecuting officer said : 
" The crime of the man indicted before you is this : That on 
such a night he went to such a house for the purpose of rob- 
bery." u Yes," said he, u it is so ; but remember, there is an 
extenuating circumstance." "What is it?" "I am no 
Jesuit." " Did you rob the house ? n « Yes, I did." " Did 
you rob the house and set fire to it ? " " Yes, I did ; but, 
thank God, I am no Jesuit." This man had been reading 
the French infidel newspapers; and he selected a priest as 
something worse than himself. Bad as he was, in order to 
make it appear that there was something still worse, it was' 
necessary to say, " he was not a Jesuit." So if a man were 
arraigned for any conceivable crime, he might urge, as an ex- 
tenuating circumstance, "It is true 5 I did it ; but I am no 
politician ! " Thank God, there are many and honorable ex- 
ceptions. If there were not many honorable exceptions, what 
would become of society ? Why, society itself would come to 
a standstill. But there are honest and independent men, 
and no word of mine can be regarded as, in the slightest 
degree, reflecting on any man, or class of men. True, I 
know no one : I speak simply as a stranger coming amongst 
you, and from simply reading the accounts that your daily 
papers give. 

Now, I ask you, if the man of the age, or the day, be 
such — and I do not think that I have overdrawn the picture ; 
nay more, I am convinced that, in the words I have used, you 
have recognized the truth, perhaps 'something less than the 
whole truth, of " the man of the day" in his social, political, 
and domestic relations — I ask you — not as a Catholic priest 
at all, but as a man — as a man not without some amount of 
intelligence — as one speaking to his fellow-men, as intel- 
lectual men — can this thing go on ? Should this go on ? Are 
you in society prepared to accept that man as a true man of 
the day ? Are you prepared to multiply him as the model 
man ? Are you prepared to say : u We are satisfied ; he comes 
up to the requirements of our mark ? " Or, on the other hand, 
must you say this : " It will never do : if this be the man of 
the day there is an end to society ; if this be the man of the 
day, it will never do j we must seek another style — another 



13 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



stamp of man, with other principles of conduct, or else society 
comes to a deadlock and standstill?" And to those two pro- 
positions I will invite your attention. 

Go back three hundred years ago. When Martin Luther 
inaugurated Protestantism, one of the principles upon which 
he rested his fallacy was to separate the Church from all 
influence upon human affairs. His tenets said : " Let her 
teach religion, but let her not be mixing herself up with this 
question or that." The Church of God, my dear friends, not 
only holds and is the full deposit of truth, not only preaches 
it, not only pours forth her sacramental graces, but the 
Church — the Catholic Church — mixes herself up with the 
thousand questions of the day — not as guiding them, not as 
dictating or identifying herself with this policy or that, but as 
simply coming in to declare, in every walk of life, certain prin- 
ciples and rules of conduct. Here let me advert to the false 
principle that, outside of the four walls of her temples, she has 
nothing to do with man's daily work. This principle was 
followed out in France in 1792-3, when not only was the 
Church separated from all legitimate influence in society, but 
she was completely deposed for the time being. And now, 
the favorite expression of this day of our is : " Oh, let the 
Catholic priests preach until they are hoarse ; let them fire 
away until they are black in the face ; but let us have no 
Catholicity here, Catholicity there, the priest everywhere ! 
We will not submit to it ; like the Irish, getting the priest 
into every social relation ; taking his advice in every thing ; 
acting under his counsel in everv thinff. We will not submit 
to be a priest-ridden people. We will not submit to have the 
priest near us at all, outside of his church. If he stays there, 
well and good : if not, every one can do as he likes." For 
the last century all the Catholic nations of Europe — in fact, 
the whole world — have, more or less, acted upon this principle. 
Let us see the advantage of all this. Have the world, society, 
governments, legislatures, gained by it ? To the Church they 
say : " Stand aside ; don't presume to come into the Senate or 
the Parliament. We will make laws without you. Don't be 
preacMng to me about God ; I can get along without you." 
The world has u got along" for some hundreds of years ; and 
it has produced only that beautiful man I have described to 
you — the man of the day — the accomplished man — the gentle- 
man — the man in kid gloves — the man who is well dressed — 



TEE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY. 19 



the man with the gemmed watch and gold chain — the man 
with the lacquered hair and well-trimmed whisker. Do not 
trust his word — he is a liar ! Do not trust him. Oh, fathers, 
oh, children, do not have any thing to say to him ! He is a 
bad man. Keep away from him. Close the doors of your gov- 
ernment-house—of your House of Representatives — against 
him. This is the man whom the Church knows not as of her ; 
whom the world and whom society have to fear. If this is 
the best thing that the world has created, surely it ought to 
be proud of its offspring ! Society lives and can only live up- 
on the purity that pervades the domestic circle and sanctifies 
it ; upon the truthfulness and integrity that guard all the 
social relations of life and sanctify them ; and upon the pure 
and disinterested love of country upon which alone true 
patriotism depends. Stand aside, man of the day ! You are 
unfit for these things. Stand aside, simulacrum ! 
counterfeit of man, stand aside ! Thou art not fit to encumber 
this earth. Where is the truthfulness of thy intellect, thou 
scoffer at all religion ? Where is the purity of thy heart, thou 
faithless husband ? Where is the honesty of thy life, thou 
pilfering politician ? Stand aside ! If we have nothing 
better than you, we must come to ruin. Stand forth, O 
Christian man, and let us see what we can make of thee ! 
Hast thou principles, Christian man ? He advances, and 
says : " My first principle is- this : that the Almighty God 
created me responsible for every wilful thought, and word, 
and act of my life. I believe in that responsibility before 
God. I believe that these thoughts, and words, and acts 
shall be my blessedness or my damnation for eternity. 77 These 
are the first principles of the Christian man. Give me a man 
that binds up eternity with his thoughts, and his words, and 
his acts of to-day : I warrant you he will be very careful how 
he thinks, how he speaks, and how he acts. I will trust that 
man, because he does not love honesty for the sake of man, 
but for the love of his own soul 5 not for the love of the world, 
but for the love of God. Stand forth, Christian man, and 
tell us what are thy principles in thy domestic relations, which, 
as father and husband, thou hast assumed. He comes forth 
and says : "I believe, — and I believe it on the peril of my 
eternal salvation, — that I must be as true in my thought and 
in my act to the woman whom I made my wife, as you, a 
priest, are to the altar of Christ. I believe that, as long as 



20 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the Angel of Death comes not between me and that woman, 
she is to be the queen of my heart ; the mother and mistress 
of my household ; and that no power, save the hand of God, 
can separate us, or break the tie that binds us." 

Well said, thou faithful Christian man ! Well said ! Tell 
us about thy relations to thy children. The Christian man 
answers and says : "I believe and I know .that, if one of 
these children rises up in judgment against me, and cries out 
neglect and bad education and bad example against me, that 
that alone will w r eigh me down and cast me into hell for ever." 
Well said, Christian father ! You are the man of the day 
so far. With you the domestic hearth and circle will remain 
holy. When your shadow, after your day's labor, falls 
across your humble threshold, it is the shadow of a man lov- 
ing the God of all fidelity, and of all sanctity, in his soul. 
What are your relations to your friends, Christian man? 
He answers : u I love my friend in Christ, my Lord ; I believe 
that when I speak of my friend, or of my fellow-man, every 
word I utter goes forth into eternity, there to be registered for or 
against me, as true or false. I believe that when my friend, 
or neighbor, and fellow-man, is in want or in misery, and that 
he sends forth the cry for consolation or for relief, I am bound 
to console him, or to relieve him, as if I saw my Lord him- 
self lying prostrate and helpless before me." Who are thy* 
enemies, man of faith ? He answers : " Enemies I have 
none." Do you not hold him as an enemy who harms you ? 
" No, I see him in my own sin, and in the bleeding hands 
and open side of my Saviour ; and whatever I see there I 
must love in spite of all injustice." What are your political 
relations ? He answers and says : "If any one says of an- 
other, he is a man who fattened upon corruption, no man can 
say so of me. I entered into the arena of my country's ser- 
vice, and came forth with unstained hands. Whatever I 
have done, I have done for love of my country 5 because my 
country holds upon me the strongest and highest claims, after 
those of God." Heart and mind are there. Oh, how grand 
is the character that is thus built upon Faith and Love ! 
How, grand is this man, so faithful at home, so truthful 
abroad, so irreproachable in the senate or the forum ! Where 
shall we find him ? I answer, the Catholic Church alone can 
produce him. This is a bold assertion. I do not deny that he 
may exist outside the Catholic Church ; but if he does it is as 



THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAY. 21 



an exception ,• and the exception only proves the rule. I do 
not deny much of what I have said, if not all, to that glorious 
name that shall live for ever as the very type of patriotism, 
and honor, and virtue, and truth, — the grand, the majestic, 
the immortal name of George Washington, the Father of his 
country. But, just as a man may find a rare and beautiful 
flower, even in the field, or by the roadside, and he is sur- 
prised and says, " How came it to be here ? How came it 
to grow here?" when he goes into the garden, the cul- 
tivated spot, he finds it as a matter of course, because the 
soil was prepared for it, and the seed was sown. There is no 
surprise, no astonishment, to find the man of whom I speak — 
the Christian man — in the Catholic Church. If you want to 
find him, as a matter of course — if you want to find the 
agencies that produce him — if you want to find the soil 
he must grow in, if he grows at all, you must go into the 
Catholic Church, decidedly. Nowhere out of the Catholic 
Church is the bond of matrimony indissoluble. In the 
Catholic Church, the greatest ruffian, the most depraved man 
that ever lived, the most faithless woman that ever cursed the 
world, if they are faithless to every thing, they must remain 
joined by the adamantine bonds that the Church will not 
allow any man to break. 

Secondly, the only security you have for all I have spoken 
of as enriching man in his social and political relations, is 
in conscience. If a man has no conscience, he can have no 
truth : he loses his power of discerning the difference be- 
tween truth and falsehood. If a man has no conscience, he 
loses all knowledge and all sense of sin. If a man has no 
conscience, he loses by degrees even the very abstract faith 
that there is for good in him. Conscience is a most precious 
gift of God ; but, like every other faculty in the soul of man, 
unless it be exercised, it dies out. The conscience of man 
must be made a living tribunal within him, and he must 
bring his own soul and his own life before that tribunal. A 
man may kneel down and pray to God ; he may listen to 
the voice of the preacher attentively, seriously ; but in the 
Catholic Church alone there is one Sacrament, and that 
Sacrament the most frequent, and the most necessary, after 
Baptism, — and that is the Sacrament of Penance ; the going 
to confession ; an obligation imposed under pain of mortal sin, 
and of essential need to every Catholic at stated times : an 



22 



FA TREE BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



obligation that no Catholic can shrink from without covering 
himself with sin. This is at once a guarantee for the existence 
of a conscience in a man, and a restraining power, which is 
the very test, and the crucial test, of a man's life. A 
Catholic may sin, like other men 5 he may be false in every 
relation of fife 5 he may be false in the domestic circle ; he 
may be false socially ) he may be false politically ; but one 
thing you may be sure of, — that he either does not go to con- 
fession at all, or, if he goes to confession, and comes to the 
holy altar, there is an end to his falsehood, there is an end to 
his sin ; and the whole world around him, in the social circle, 
the domestic circle, the political circle, receives an absolute 
guarantee, an absolute proof, that that man must be all that 
I have described the Christian man to be, — a man in whom 
every one, in every relation of life, may trust and confide. 
This is the test. Do not speak to me of Catholics who do not 
give us this test. When a Catholic does not go to the 
Sacraments, I could no more trust in him than in any other 
man. I say to you, do not talk to me about Catholics who 
do not go to the Sacraments. I have nothing to say of them, 
only to pray for them, to preach to them, and to beseech 
them to come to this holy Sacrament, where they will find 
grace to enable them to live up to the principles which they 
had forsaken. But give me the practical, intellectual Catholic 
man, the man of faith : give me the man of human power 
and intelligence, and the higher power, divine principle, and 
divine love. With that man, as with the lever of Archi- 
medes, I will move the world. 

Let me speak to you, in conclusion, of such a man. Let 
me speak to you of one whose form, as I beheld it in 
early youth, now looms up before me j so fills, in imagi- 
nation, the halls of my memory, that I behold him now 
as I beheld him years ago ; majestic in stature, an eye * 
gleaming with intellectual power, a mighty hand uplifted, 
waving, quivering with honest indignation 5 his voice thun- 
dering like the voice of a god in the tempest, against 
all injustice and all dishonor. I speak of Ireland's 
greatest son, the immortal Daniel O'Connell. He came, 
and found a nation the most faithful, the most generous on 
the face of the earth ; he found a people not deficient in any 
power of human intelligence or human courage ) chaste in 
their domestic relations, reliable to each other, and truthful ; 



THE CHRISTIAN MAN THE MAN OF THE DAT. 



23 



and, above all, a people who, for centuries and centuries, had 
lived, and died, and suffered to uphold the faith and the 
Cross. He came, and he found that people, after the re- 
bellion of 7 98, down-trodden in the blood-stained dust, and 
bound in chains. The voice of Ireland was silent. The 
heart of the nation was broken. Every privilege, civil and 
otherwise, was taken from them. They were commanded, as 
the only condition of the toleration of their existence, to lie 
down in their blood-stained fetters of slavery, and to be grate- 
ful to the hand that only left them life. He brought to that 
prostrate people a Christian spirit and a Christian soul. He 
brought his mighty faith in God and in God's holy Church. 
He brought his great human faith in the power of justice, 
and in the omnipotence of right. He roused the people from 
their lethargy. He sent the cry for justice throughout the 
land, and he proved his own sincerity to Ireland and to her 
cause, by laying down an income of sixty thousand pounds a 
year, that he might enter into her service. He showed the 
people the true secret of their strength himself. One day 
thundering for justice in the halls of the English Senate, on 
the morrow morning he was seen in the confessional, and 
kneeling at the altar to receive his God: with one hand 
leaning upon the eternal cause of God's justice ; with the other 
leaning upon the Lord J esus Christ. Upheld by these and 
by the power of his own genius, he left his mark upon his 
age : he left his mark upon his country. This was, indeed, 
the u Man of his Day F the Christian man, of whom the 
world stood in awe — faithful as a husband and father ; faith- 
ful as a friend ; the delight of all who knew him ; faith- 
ful in his disinterested labors; with an honorable, honest 
spirit of self-devotion in his country's cause ! He raised that 
prostrate form, he struck the chains from those virgin arms, 
and placed upon her head a crown of free worship and 
free education. He made Ireland to be, in a great measure, 
what he always prayed and hoped she might be, " The 
Queen of the Western Isles, and the proudest gem that 
the Atlantic bears upon the surface of its green waters." 
Oh, if there were a few more like him ! Oh, that our race 
would produce a few more like him ! Our O'Connell was 
Irish of the Irish, and Catholic of the Catholic. We are 
Irish and we are Catholic. How is it we have not more 
men like him? Is the stamina wanting to us? Is the 



24 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



intellect wanting to us? Is the power of united expres- 
sion in the interests of society wanting to us ? No. But 
the religious Irishman of our day refuses to be educated; 
and the educated Irishman of to-day refuses to be religious. 
These two must go hand in hand. Unite the highest 
education with the deepest and tenderest practical love of 
God and of your religion, and I see before me, in many of 
the young faces on which I look, the stamp of our Irish 
genius. I see before me many who may be the fathers and 
legislators of the Republic, the leaders of our race, and the 
heroes of our common country and our common religion. 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE FOSTER- 
MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 

\_A Lecture delivered by the Very Rev. T. N. BurTce, O.P., in St. 
Paul's Church, Brooklyn, March 3 ; 1872. 

My Friexds : On last Tuesday evening, when I had the 
honor of addressing you, I proposed to you a subject for your 
consideration which, perhaps, may have struck a good many 
among you as strange. We are such worshippers of this age 
of ours, that when the " man of the day," as he is called, is 
put before us in any other than an amiable light, no matter 
how true it may be, it seems strange. It is a hazardous 
thing for me to attempt ; — and there are many among you 
that will consider the thing I have undertaken to do this 
evening a still more hazardous attempt — namely, to prove to 
you that the Catholic Church is the foster-mother of human 
liberty. Was there ever so strange a proposition heard? — 
the Catholic Church the mother of human liberty ! If I 
undertook to prove that the Catholic Church was the in- 
strument chosen by Almighty God to save Christianity, I 
might do it on the testimony of Protestant historians. I 
might quote, for instance, Guizot, the French statesman and 
historian, who repeatedly and emphatically asserts that only 
for the organization of bishops, priests, monks, etc., — what is 
called " the Church/ 7 — the Christian religion would never 
have been preserved ; never have been able to sustain the 
shock of the incursions of the barbarians of the North upon 
the Roman Empire 5 and never have been preserved through 
the following ages of confusion, and, some people say, of 
darkness. I could quote the great German historian, Neander, 
who was not only a Protestant, but bitterly opposed to the 
Catholic Church, and who repeats, again and again, the self- 
same proposition: "Were it not/' he says, "for the Church, 
the Christian religion must have perished during the time 
that elapsed between the fifth and the tenth centuries." I 
might, I say again, find it easy to prove any one of these 
propositions, with less fear of cavil. Ah, but this is quite 
another thing, you will say in vour own minds ! This man 

2* 



26 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



tells us that he is prepared to prove that the Catholic Church 
is the foster-mother of human liberty. Why, the "man of the 
day/ 7 whom we were considering on a previous evening, is not 
a very amiable character. He has a great many vices j there 
are a great many moral deformities about him — this boasted 
man of the nineteenth century. But there is one thing that he 
lays claim to : he says, — and rue claims that it is something 
which no man can gainsay, — that he is a freeman ; that 
he is not like those men who lived in the ages when the 
Catholic Church had power, when she was enabled to enforce 
her laws.. "Then, indeed," he says, "men were slaves; 
but now, whatever our faults may be, we have freedom. 
Nay 3 more," he will add, " we have freedom in spite of the 
Catholic Church. We are free because we have succeeded in 
disanning the Catholic Church ; in taking the power out of her 
hands. We are free because our legislation and the spirit of 
our age is hostile to the Catholic Church. How then, 3Ionk, 
do you presume to come here and tell us, the men of the 
day, that this Church of yours — this Church whose very name 
we associate with the idea of intellectual slavery — that she is 
the foster-mother of human liberty ? v 

Well. I need not tell you, my friends, that there is nothing 
easier than to make assertions ; that there is nothing easier 
than to proclaim such and such things ; lay them down as if 
they were the law ; tumble it out as if it was gospel. It may 
be a lie. Out with it. Assert it strongly. Eepeat it. Do 
not let it be put down. Assert it again and again. Even 
though it be a lie, a great many people w r ill believe it. No- 
thing is easier than to make assertions without thinking well 
on w r hat we say. Now, let me ask you this evening to do 
what very few men in this age of ours do at all ; and that is, 
to reflect a little. It is simply astonishing, considering the 
powers that God has given to man,— the power of thought, the 
power of reflection, the power of analyzing facts and weighing 
statements, the powder of reducing things to their first principles, 
— I say it is astonishing to think of that and to look around us 
and see how r few the men are who reason at all,— who reflect, 
— who take time for thought ; how many there are who use 
words of which they do not know the meaning. Take, for 
instance, that word " liberty." I need hardly tell you that I 
must explain it to you before I advance the proposition that 
the Catholic Church is the mother of liberty. 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



27 



What is the meaning of the word " liberty — so dear to 
us all ? We are always boasting of it ; the patriot is always 
aspiring to it ; the revolutionist makes it justify all his wiles 
and all his conspiracies. It is the word that floats upon the 
folds of the nation's banners, as they are flung out upon the 
breeze over the soldier's head ; and he is cheered in his last 
moments by the sacred sound of liberty ! It is a word dear to 
us all, — the boast of all of us. What is the boast of America? 
That it is the Land of Freedom. Yes; but I ask you, do you 
know what it means ? Liberty f Just reflect upon it a little. 
Does liberty mean freedom from restraint? Does liberty, in 
your mind, mean freedom from any power, government, or 
restraint of legislation? Is this your meaning of liberty? 
For instance : Is this your meaning of liberty — that every 
man can do what he likes ? If so, you cannot complain if 
you are stopped by the robber on the roadside, and he puts 
his pistol to your head and says: "Your money or your life ! " 
You cannot complain ; he is only using his liberty in doing 
what he likes. Does liberty mean that the murderer may 
come and put his knife into you? Does liberty mean that 
the dishonest man is to be allowed to pilfer ? Is this liberty ? 
This is freedom from restraint. But is it liberty ? Most cer- 
tainly not. You will not consider that you are slaves be- 
cause you live under laws that tell you that you must not 
steal; that you must not murder; that you must not interfere 
with or violate each other's rights ; but that you must respect 
those of each other ; and if you do not do that, you must be 
punished. You do not consider you are slaves because you 
are under the restraint of law. Whatever liberty means, 
therefore, it does not, in its true meaning, imply simple and 
mere freedom from restraint. Yet, how many there are who 
use this word, and who attach this meaning to it. What is 
liberty ? There are in man — in the soul of man — two great 
powers, — God-like, angelic, spiritual, — viz. : the intelligence 
of the mind and the will. The intelligence of the human 
mind, the soul, and the will are the true fountains and the 
seat of liberty. What is the freedom of the intelligence ? 
What is the freedom of the will ? There are no other powers 
in man capable of this freedom except these two. If you ask 
me in what does the freedom of the intelligence and of the 
will of man consist, I answer: The freedom of the intellect con- 
sists in being free from error, — from intellectual error. The 



26 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



freedom, of man's intelligence consists in its being perfectly 
free from the danger and liability of believing that which 
is false. The slavery of the intelligence in man is submission 
in mind and in belief to that which is a lie. If, for instance, 
I came here this evening, and if, by the power of language, 
by plausibilit}^ of words, by persuasiveness, I got any man 
among you to believe a lie, and take that lie as truth and 
admit it into his mind as truth, and admit it as a principle 
that is right, and just, and true, when it is false, and unjust, 
and a lie, — that man is intellectually a slave. Falsehood is 
the slavery of the intelligence. 

Reflect a little upon this. It is well worth reflecting upon. 
It is a truth that is not grasped or held by the men of this 
century of ours. There was a time when it was considered 
a disreputable thing to believe a lie. There was a time when 
men were ashamed of believing what, even by possibility, 
could be a lie. Nowadays, men glory in it. It was but a 
short time ago a popular orator and lecturer in England 
referred to the multitude of religious sects that are there — 
of those people who assert that Christ is God, and of those 
who assert that He is not God ; of those who assert that 
there are three persons in the Trinity, and of those who assert 
that there is no Trinity — the Unitarians ; of those who assert 
that good works are necessary for salvation, and of those 
who assert that good works are not necessary at all ; of those 
who assert that Christ is present on the altar, and of those 
who say it is damnable heresy to assert that He is there at 
all,* — speaking of all these, — how, we ask, can any one of 
them be true and all the rest not be false ? This lecturer 
said : " The multitude of sects and churches in England is 
the glory of our age and of our people ; for it shows what a 
religious people we are. 77 My God ! A man believes a lie • 
a man takes a lie to him as if it were the truth of God • a 
man takes an intellectual falsehood — a thing that is false in 
itself — a thing that has no real existence in fact — a thing 
that God never said, and never thought of saying ; and he 
lays that religious lie upon the altar of his soul, and he bows 
down and does homage to it as if it were the truth ! 
And then he says : "It may be a lie ! but you know it 
is a religions lie • and it is so respectable and religious 
to have a multitude of sects ; and it shows what a good 
people we are ! 77 This is our age. The very definition of 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



29 



the intellectual freedom of man, which I am about to 
give you, I take from the highest authority. I will not 
quote for you, my friends, the words of man ; but I will 
quote to you the Word of God — of God himself — who ought 
to know best ; of God himself, who made man and- gave him 
his intelligence and his freedom — of God himself, who has 
declared that the freedom of the human intellect lies in the 
possession of the truth — the knowledge of the truth — the 
grasping of the truth — the exclusion, by that very fact, of 
all error. Christ, our Lord, said : — " You shall know the 
truth and the truth shall make you free." You shall know 
the truth, and, in the knowledge of that truth, will lie your 
freedom. Mind you, He did not say: "I will send you 
groping after the truth." No ! But you shall know it — you 
shall have it — no doubt about it ! He did not say : " Here 
is a book • here is My word ; take it and look for the truth 
in it, and if you happen to find it, well and good ; if not, you 
are still a religious man !" He did not say : " Your duty is 
to seek for the truth, to look for it no, but He said : " You 
shall have it, and you shall know it ; and that shall make 
your freedom; the truth shall make you free!" I lay it 
down, therefore, as a first principle, that the very definition 
of intellectual freedom lies in the possession of the truth. 

Now, my friends, before I go any further, I may as well 
at once come home to my subject, and that is, that the 
Catholic Church alone is the foster-mother of intellectual 
freedom. Afterwards we will come to the freedom of the 
will. We will ask what it is, and apply the same principles 
in answering it. There is in the Catholic Church a power 
which she has always exercised 5 and, strange to say, it is 
the very exercise of that power which forms the world's chief 
accusation against her. And that is, the power of defining, 
as articles of faith and dogma — as what we are to believe 
beyond all doubt, all cavil, beyond all speculation, what she 
holds and knows to be true. There is this distinguishing 
feature between the Catholic Church and all sects that call 
themselves religious, — that she always speaks clearly. 
Every child that belongs to her, every man that hears her 
voice, knows precisely what to believe, knows precisely what 
the Church teaches. Never does she leave a soul in doubt. 
What can be more striking than the contrast which Protest- 
antism presents to the Catholic Church in this respect, — its 



30 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



leaders lost in utter perplexity, not knowing what to say. 
Some time ago a deputation of clergymen of the Church of 
England waited upon the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
propounded a very simple question, indeed, to him : viz., — 
Whether the Protestant Church allowed its ministers, or 
taught them, to preach their sermons, with surplices on, or 
without. Well, there was not much in that : about half a 
yard of calico was all of it ; the most of it was not as much 
as would make a surplice for a little boy. They came and 
asked the Archbishop if he would kindly tell them what 
was the discipline of the Church. The Archbishop knew 
and remembered very well that there was a party in England 
that could not bear to see a surplice on a clergyman. The 
verv si edit of such a thin^ is like the shaking of a red rag 
before a bull : it makes them mad. It is a singular thing. 
Now, when you come in here to your devotions, you do not 
mind much whether the alb the priest wears be a long one 
or a short one ; whether the surplice be plain or embroid- 
ered ; or whether the fringes of the lace are long" or short. 
But, in the Protestant Church, in England, if a minister goes 
up before a certain congregation with a surplice on, one-half 
of them stand up and walk out of the house. The Arch- 
bishop knew this \ he also knew that there is a strong party 
in the Protestant Church who not only favor surplices, but 
would like to^see all kinds of vestments worn. Mournfully 
he turns round, and what is the answer that he gives J ? He 
answers them as if he had nothing to say, as if there was 
nothing in it. What was the answer his Grace of Canter- 
bury gave ? What answer do you suppose he gave them ? 
He rubbed his hands — (I don't know whether he took a 
pinch of snuff or not) — but he rubbed his hands and said : 
" It was — a — really — a — a- — a — very — serious question • that 
we lived in times when the Church uses a caution and pru- 
dence that was most . admirable and most necessary ; — that 
the fact of it is, that those who wear surplices in performing 
the functions of the Church, — that, no doubt, they were 
actuated by the purest of motives and the best of feelings ; 
that he honored them ; and that, in fact, he felt that, accord- 
ing to circumstances, the surplice might be worn 5 and that 
when a man had it on him — why — he had it on him ! 
There was no mistake about it. Then, that there were 
others who did not wear surplices — and, of course, as to 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



31 



those who did not wear them — why, they were not in the 
habit of putting them on • and that, really, he mnst say 
that, on this question, the discipline of the Church was such 
that it was very hard precisely to say whether the wearing 
of a surplice, or the not wearing of a surplice, was precisely 
the most convenient , 77 and, to use a vulgar phrase, he bam- 
boozled them, — and, under Heaven, they did not know what 
he meant. One minute he told them it was right ; the next 
minute he told them it might be wrong. And that on the 
mere question of a surplice ! The Catholic Church comes 
out on a question affecting the existence of God ; Heaven ; 
the Revelation of Scripture ; the Divinity of Jesus Christ. 
It is a question affecting an article of faith. She gives to 
the Church, on this or that article of faith, language as clear 
as a bell — language so clear and decided that every child 
may know what God has revealed ] that this is what God 
teaches that this is the truth. But the " Man of the 
Day 77 says : " What right has the Church to impose this on 
you ? Are you not a slave to believe it ? 77 I answer at 
once : " If it be a lie, you are a slave to believe it. If it be 
not a lie, but the truth,— in the very belief of it, then, — in 
the knowledge of it lies your freedom, according to the 
words of Christ : 6 You shall know the truth, and the truth 
shall make you free. 7 77 

The whole question hinges upon this : Has the Church 
the power and the authority to teach you what is the truth? 
She at once falls back upon the Scriptures and lays her 
hand upon the words of Jesus Christ, saying — " Go and 
teach all nations ; teach them all truth : I will send the Spirit 
of truth upon you to abide with you, and I Myself will be 
with you all days to the end of the world ; and the gates 
of hell, —that is to say, the spirit of error, — shall never, 
never, never prevail against My Church ! 77 If that be true, 
the whole question is settled. If that word be true — if Jesus 
Christ be the God of truth, as we know Him to be, then the 
whole controversy is at an end. He commands us to hear the 
Church, to accept her teachings, to grasp them, being the 
truth, with our minds as though we heard them immediately 
from the lips of our Lord God Himself — who is the very 
quintessence of truth and of intellectual freedom — for intellec- 
tual freedom lies in a knowledge of the truth. And now, 
let me give you a familiar proof of this. Let me suppose, 



32 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



now, that instead of being what I am — a Catholic priest and 
a monk — that I was — (God between us and harm !) — a Meth- 
odist, a Presbyterian, or that I was a Baptist, an Anabaptist, 
or any thing of that kind, or a Quaker, or a Shaker, or any 
thing that you like. And suppose that I came here, a man of 
a certain amount of intellect and originality, and that I had 
taken up, or that I had dreamt, last night, some crooked view 
of the Scriptures, and that I said in my own mind : " Well, 
perhaps, after all, Christ did not die on the cross ; perhaps 
that w T as one of those fictions that we find in history and 
that I then came up here, on this altar, and put that lie plausi • 
bly, — perhaps dogmatically, — and told you how many other 
lies were thus told, — how this thing thus said was proved to be 
false, and that that thing thus said was proved to be false 5 — 
and that then I said to you : " What evidence have we of the 
crucifixion of our Lord but historical evidence I Perhaps, 
after all, it was only a myth ? w When we look into ourselves, 
and see how much there is in us of evil and how little of good, 
and then think of Christ coming to die for us and save us ! — 
indeed, they say, there is a question whether He came at all 
or not. If I were only to put that question plausibly to you, 
what is to hinder me from deceiving you f What is to hinder 
me, if I am able to do it eloquently and forcibly ? What is to 
save some of you from being imposed upon, and some of you 
from believing me ? You are at my mercy. So far as I can 
raise a doubt in your minds, I can put an intellectual chain 
upon you. You are at my mercy ; and I am at the mercy of 
my own idle dreams. Well, let us take things as they are. 
I came here as a Catholic priest to you, wdio are Catholics. If 
I were here, this evening, to breathe one breath — one word — 
against the real presence of our Lord, — or against the infalli- 
bility of the Pope, — or against the indefectibility of the 
Church, — or against the power of the priest 'to absolve from 
sin, — or any other doctrine of the Catholic Church 5 — if I was 
just to approach it with the faintest touch; — is there a man 
among you — is there one in this Church — who would not rise 
up and say : " You lie ! You are a heretic ! You are a false 
teacher ! You are a heathen and an infidel ! ?; If I dared to 
do it, could I have the slightest influence on any one of you \ 
No. And why? Because you know the truth. Why? 
Because the Church of God has thrown the shield of dogma 
between you and every false teacher — between you and 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY, 



33 



every one who would try to make you believe a lie. Is not 
this freedom ? 

Some time ago, a poor man from the county of Gal way — 
my own county — went over to England, to earn the rent by 
reaping the harvest. He went down into the southwest of 
England — into Gloucestershire. And, now, you must know 
that the Protestants of that part of England are what 
they call " Puseyites/ 7 — men who are fond of being as like- 
Catholics as possible, without being actually Catholics. 
And so this poor fellow went in one Sunday morning; — 
to be sure, it was a very strange place in which he 
found himself ; — but he heard the bells ring ; he walked 
along • he saw a cross ; he saw, as he supposed, a church ; 
he went in, and (sure enough) saw a cross, found an altar, 
and the candles on it 5 and three men — young men — 
attending, if you please, on the altar. There were a priest, 
and his deacon, and sub-deacon, and a congregation — all 
kneeling down as the service went on • and he thought he 
was all right. He knelt down, blessed himself, and every 
thing went on smoothly, to all appearance ; and the mock 
Mass went on until the time came for the priest to preach, 
and the deacons and sub-deacons sat down in their chairs. 
The priest took off his vestments and laid aside his stole. 
He then blessed himself. There were many distinguished 
personages there — all Protestants. In his beautiful sermon 
he called the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God. 
All this time the poor Galway man was beating his breast. 
Every thing went off delightfully until the man came to- talk 
to the people that were coming in : " Now," said he, " some 
of you, my dear brethren, 77 — (he was an elegant English 
Protestant, highly educated) — " Now, my dearly beloved 
brethren, 77 said he, " some among you, no doubt, are going 
to approach the holy communion ; — of course, I do not wish 
to force my opinion upon you 5 — but you must remember 
that faith is required, and I humbly hope that as many of 
you as go to the altar will believe that you are about really 
to receive the Lord. I do not want to say, for an instant, 
that this is absolutely necessary, or that I put it upon you 
under the awful penalty of excommunication 5 but still I 
hope you will approach it in the right faith. 77 " God bless 
my soul ! 77 said the poor Galway man 5 " this is too bad ! 
I have never seen the like of this before ! 77 So he stoops 



34 



FAIRER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



clown, takes up his hat, and goes for the door ; for, as soon 
as he heard the hesitating, faltering, almost apologetic 
assertion of the preacher, he at once understood that, he was 
in a Protestant and not in a Catholic Church. When he 
was telling it to me, he said : u Why, your reverence, it was 
only when he got to the end of the sermon that he let the cat 
out of the bag ! " Now, I ask you who was the free man in 
that church J ? Was it not the man whose intelligence, humble 
'as he was, uneducated as he was in worldly learning — but 
with the knowledge of the Catholic Chureh in his soul — was 
it not he whose intelligence instantly rose up, rejected the 
false doctrine, and shook off the slavery of the lie ? 

Need I say any more J ? Before I end, I will come to 
vindicate the Church, my mother, as is my duty, from any 
charge of ever fostering slavery, or of ever riveting one 
fetter upon the intelligence of man. But I think I have so 
far sufficiently brought it home to the intellect of every one 
among you that, if the knowledge of the truth, the possession 
of the truth, the grasping of the truth, creates freedom of 
the intellect, according to the definition of it by the word of 
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, — that man alone can 
have that freedom who receives the truth knowing it to be 
the truth, from the mouth of one whom Christ, the Son of 
God, declares to be incapable of teaching man a lie ! 

But now we pass to the second great stronghold of free- 
dom or of slavery in the soul of man ; and that is, the will. 
For you know that, strictly speaking, the will of man — 
that free will that God gives us - is really and truly the 
subject-matter either of freedom or of slavery. If a man has 
the freedom of his will, he is free ; if a man's will is coerced, 
he is a slave. I grant you that. But when is that will 
coerced ? What is the definition of the word " freedom/ 7 so 
far as it touches human will? I answer at once, and define 
the freedom of the human will to be, on the one side, 
obedience to recognized and just law, and, on the other side, 
freedom from over-ruling or coercive action of any authority, 
or of any power that is not legitimately appointed to govern 
and rule tfie will. We are slaves, if we are bound to observe 
laws that are, in themselves, unjust, — laws that involve an 
immoral act ; and no man but a slave is bound to obey 
them. Thus, for instance, if the law of the land tells me 
that what I have heard from any one of my Catholic children 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



35 



in the confessional, I am to go and make a deposition of it, 
that is, to use it as evidence against .him- — if the law said 
that- — (and the law has sometimes said it)— the Catholic 
priest knows, and every Catholic knows, that the observance 
of that law would make a slave of the priest — it would 
destroy his over-ruling conscience that dictates to his will ; 
• — so that if he observed that law he would be a slave ; but 
if he died rather than observe it, he would be a martyr and 
iin apostle of freedom. 

Secondly, the freedom of the will lies in being free from 
every influence, from every coercing power that has no right 
or title whatever to command our wills. Who has a right 
to command the will of man ? Almighty God, who made it. 
Every human law that tells us, do this or do that, has 
authority only inasmuch as it is the echo of the eternal voice, 
commanding or prohibiting. I will only obey the law 
because St. Paul tells us, " the law comes from on high "— 
that all power, all law, comes from Almighty God. Any 
other power that is opposed to God, any other power that 
upsets the reasons of God, has nothing whatever .to say to 
the will of man; and if the will of man submits* to the per- 
suasion or coercion of that power, by that very fact it 
becomes a slave. 

Now, what are the great powers that assert themselves in 
this our age upon the will of man? What are the great 
powers that make slaves of us ? I answer, they are the 
world around us and its principles ; — our own passions within 
us, and our sinful inclinations. Reflect upon it. We live 
in a world that has certain principles, that lays down certain 
maxims and acts upon them. The world has its own code of 
laws ,• the world has its own sins, greater or lesser. For in- 
stance, a man is insulted. The world tells him to go, take a 
revolver, and wipe out the jinsnlt in the blood of the man 
who dares to insult him. This is the world's law ; but it is 
opposed to God's law, which says : " Love your enemies, 
and pardon them for My sake ! 77 The world says to a man, 
" You are in a good position ; you have place, power, influence, 
patronage; you have it in your power to enrich yourself. 
Ah ! don't be so squeamish * don't be so mealy-mouthed ; 
shove a friend in here. Let a man have a chance of taking 
up his own pickings, Put another man to do the same there. 
Take something for yourself." The world says this ; and I 



30 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



"believe you have evidence of it every day. The world says 
to the man of pleasure : " You are fond of certain sins of im- 
purity. Ah ! but my dear friend, you must keep that thing 
very quiet. Keep it under the rose as long as you can. 
There is no great harm in it. It is only the weakness of 
our nature. You may go on and enjoy yourself as much as 
you choose : only be circumspect about it. Keep it as quiet 
as possible, and do not let your secret be found out." 
The great sin is in being found out. This is the way of the 
world. It thus operates upon men. It thus influences our 
will, and makes us bow down and conform to the manners 
and customs of those around us. How true this is ! Is 
there any thing more common ! I have heard it said, 
over and over again, since I came to America : " Oh, Father, 
we are very different in this country from what we were in 
the old country. In the matter of going to Mass, in this coun- 
try, on Sunday, you cannot go unless you are well dressed. 
In the old country they go no matter how they are. In this 
country people would look on it as queer if you did not go as 
well dressed as your neighbor. In the old country they were 
very particular about stations, and about going to confession. 
They used all to go to then duty at Christinas or Easter — 
and often more frequently ; — but in this country scarcely 
anybody goes at all/* 7 This is the language I have heard. 
It is not uncommon. Now, what does all this mean ? What 
has this country or that, this portion of the world or that, 
this maxim of the world or that, — what has it to do with 
your will? Where, in reason, — where, in faith, — where, in 
Scripture, can you find me one word from Almighty God to 
man : " Son of man, do as those around you do ; conform 
your life to the usages of the world around you — to the max- 
ims of the world in which you live."" But Christ has said : 
" Be not conformed to this world ; for the friendship of this 
world is enmity before God. ;; The passions within us, — 
those terrible passions ! — the strong, the unreasoning, the 
lustful desires of youth — the strong, unreasoning, revengeful 
pride and passion of man; — the strong, unreasoning desire 
to be enriched before his time by means which are accursed ; 
— the strong passions within him, whatever they may be, 
that rise up, like giants, in his path, — these are the most 
terrible tyrants of all, when they assume dominion over man ; 
and, above all, when they assume the aggravated and detest- 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 37 



able dominion of habit. Let me say a word to you about 
this. There is not a man among us who has not his own 
little world of iniquity within him. Not one ! There is not 
a man among us, even of those who are within the sanctuary, 
that must not work out his salvation with fear and trembling. 
And why ? Because he has great enemies in his own pas- 
sions. Now, the Almighty God's design is that those pas- 
sions should become completely subject to the dominion of 
reason by the free will of man. So long as man is able to 
keep them down, to subdue them — so long as a man is able 
to keep humble, pure, chaste, temperate, in spite of them, 
— that man is free ; because he controls and keeps down 
those servants, his passions, which the Almighty God never 
intended should govern him. 

Now, the intention of Almighty God is that we should 
keep down those passions. The second intention of Al- 
mighty God is, therefore, that if they rise, — as rise they do, 
in many cases, — and, for a time, overpower the soul, and in- 
duce a man to commit this sin or that, — that he must at once 
rise up out of that sin, put down that passion, and chain it 
down under the dominion of reason and will ; because, if he 
lets it remain and allows it to subdue him, and seduce him 
into sin again, in an inconceivably short time that passion 
will become' the habit and the tyrant of his life. For instance, 
if a man gets drunk, — if there is any one among you that was 
ever drunk, — I would ask that man, and say : "My dear friend, 
try to recall the first time you got drunk. Do you remember 
next morning in what a state your head was, splitting as if 
it would go asunder ? You felt that you would give half of 
all you were worth for a drink of water. Your tongue was 
dry and parched, and a coarse fur on it. Do you remember 
.how you got up in the morning and did not know what to do 
with yourself for the whole day, going about here and there, 
afraid to eat, your stomach being so sick ; afraid to lie down, 
and not able to remain up or go to work ; moaning and shak- 
ing and not able to get over the headache of the preceding 
night? That was the first time; and you made vows it should 
be the last. Next day a friend came along and said : u Let 
us go out and take a glass of toddy J ? 97 He wanted you to 
take it as medicine. I remember once, I heard of a man in 
this particular state ; and when he saw brandy and water be- 
fore him, he said : " No, sir ] I would rather take Epsom 



36 



FATHER BURKE' S DISCOURSES. 



salts.' 7 And why ? Because the habit is not yet formed ; 
the habit is not yet confirmed. But go on, my friend. Do 
not mind that. When that headache and that first sickness 
go away, go on • and after awhile, when you have learned 
to drink, the headache does not trouble you any more ; you 
get used to it ; the poison assimilates to the system • — but 
the habit is come • the physical weakness is gone, and 
the habit of sin is come. Now, I would like to see you, 
if you were drunk yesterday evening, to be able to resist 
" taking- vour morning." You could not do it ? I have seen 
a man, I was at his bedside, and the doctor was there 
after taking him over six long days of delirium tremens ;. 
and the doctor said to him, " As sure as God created 
you, if you take brandy or whiskey for the next week, you 
will be a dead man ! It will kill you ! 7) I was present ; I 
was trying to see if the poor fellow would go to confes- 
sion. There was the bottle of brandy near him on the 
table ; for they had had to give him brandy. And while the 
doctor was yet speaking to him, I saw his eyes fastened on it, 
and the hand creeping up towards it ; and if ever you saw a 
hungry horse or male looking at oats, it was he, when, with 
his eyes devouring the bottle, he reached out, clutched it, 
and put it to his head, after hearing that, as surely as God 
made him, so surely would he die if lie drank of it ! He 
could not help it. Where, then,- was that man's freedom! 
It had perished in the habit of sin. Look at Holof ernes, as 
we read of him in ".Scripture,— the profane, the impure man ! 
What does the Scripture say of him ! That when Judith 
came into his tent, the moment he looked upon her, the 
moment he cast his eves upon the Avoman, he loved her. He 
could not help it. His senses had enslaved him. His will ! 
He had no will. Speak to me of the freedom of the will of a 
thirsty animal going to the water to drink, and I may believe 
it. Speak to me of the freedom of will of a raging lion, 
hungering for days, and seeing food and leaving it, and I 
will believe in it as soon as' I will believe in the freedom 
of the will of the man who has enslaved himself in the 
habit of sin. 

Therefore, Almighty God intends either that we should 
be free from sin -altogether, keeping down the habit of all 
those passions ; or if they, from time to time, rise up, taking 
us unawares, taking us off our feet, not to yield to them, but 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 39 



to chain tliem down again, and not by indulgence to make 
them grow into habits. 

Now, the essence of freedom in the will of man lies not in 
the restraint of legitimate authority but in the freedom from 
all care, and from those powers and influences that neither 
God, nor man, nor society intended should influence or govern 
his will. Here I come home again to the subject of my 
lecture. Now I invite you again to consider where shall we 
find the means of emancipating our will from these passions 
and other bad influences? Where shall we find the means? 
Will knowledge do it? No. Will faith do it| No. It is a 
strange thing to say, but knowledge, no matter how extensive, 
no matter how profound, gives no command over the passions ; 
no intellectual motives influence them. " Were it for me/' 
says a great orator of the present day, Dr. Wilberforce, in 
his " Earnest Cry for a Reformation ; 7; " when you can moor 
a vessel with a thread of silk, then }^ou may hope to elevate 
this human knowledge, and, by human reason, to tie down 
and' restrain those giants — the passions and the pride of 
man." I know as much of the law of God as any among 
you — more probably than many — for we are to teach it. 
Does my knowledge save me from sin ? Will that knowledge 
keep me in the observance of the sacred vows I took at the 
altar of God? Is it to that knowledge that I look for the 
power and strength within me to keep every sinful passion 
down in sacerdotal purity- — every grovelling desire down in 
monastic poverty — every sin — every feeling .of pride down, in 
religious obedience? Is it to my knowledge I look for that 
power ? No : I might know as much as St. Augustine, and 
yet be imperfect. I might be a Pilate in atrocity, and yet 
as proud a man ! There is another question involving the 
great necessity of keeping down these passions. I would 
like to know where, in history, you could find a single 
evidence of knowledge restraining the passions of man, and 
purifying him. No ; the grace of God is necessary — the 
grace of God coming through fixed, specific channels to 
the soul. The actual participation of the holiness and the 
infinite sanctity of Christ is necessary. Where is that 
to be found? Where is that to be found that will save 
the young from falling into sin, and save the sinner from 
the slavery of the habit of sin ? Where is that to be 
found which will either tie down the passions altogether, or, 



40 



FATHER BURKES DISCOURSES. 



if they occasionally rise up, pat them down again and not 
allow them to grow into the gigantic, tyrannical strength of 
habit ? Where, but in the Catholic Church ? Take, for 
example, the Sacrament of Penance. These children are 
taught, with the opening of reason, their duty to God. You 
may say the Church is very unreasonable, because to-day she 
tells you that she will not allow these children to go to your 
common schools, or to any other schools where they are not 
taught of God — where they are not taught the holiness of 
God, the things of God, the influence of God, mixed up with 
every addition of knowledge that comes to their minds. You 
may say the Church is unreasonable in that. No : because 
she tries to keep them from sin ? She tries to give them the 
strength that will bind these passions down, so as to make 
moral men, truthful men, pure-minded men of them, — and to 
give them complete victory, if possible, over these pas- 
sions. But if, as age comes on, as temptations come 
on, if the Catholic man goes and gets drunk, if the 
Catholic man falls into any sin, this or that one, at once 
the Church conies before him, and at the moment he 
crosses the threshold of the sanctuary, and his eyes 
fall upon the confessional, that moment he is reminded of the 
admonition, u Come to me ! and wash your soul in the blood 
of the Lamb ! Come and tell your sin ! n The very con- 
sciousness of the knowledge of having to confess that sin ; 
the humiliation of being obliged to tell it in all its details — 
to tell it with so. much self- accusation, and sense of self-de- 
gradation for having committed it, — is, in itself, a strong check 
to prevent it, and a strong, powerful influence, even humanly 
speaking, against again falling into it, or repeating it. As the 
confessional saves from the tyranny of the passions, and above 
all, breaks up the means and does not allow the habit of sin 
to become a second nature in the life of man, what is the 
consequence ? The Catholic man, if he only observes his re- 
ligion, if he only exercises himself in its duties, if he only 
goes to confession, if he only partakes in its Sacraments and 
uses them ; the Catholic man is free in his will, by Divine 
grace, as he is free in his intelligence, by love. Knowledge 
of the truth is freedom of the intellect — freedom from every 
agency, from every power that might control the freedom oi 
the will ; — and that is effected by Divine grace. So far, we 
have seen that Almighty God has reproduced in the Church 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



41 



the elements of true freedom. I do not say that the Catholic 
Church was the " mother " of human freedom. I said she was 
u the foster-mother ; ;; for, to use a familiar phrase, we are lit- 
erally and truly " put out to nurse," as it were, to the Church. 
The freedom which we possess came to us, not from the 
Church, hut from G-od. He came down from Heaven, after 
man had been four thousand years in sin — after man had 
lost his noble inheritance of knowledge, of light, of freedom, 
and power, and self-restraint. He came in the darkness ; and 
He gave the light. He came in slavery ; and he gave free- 
dom. Having thus restored in man what he had lost in 
Adam, He then, as He himself tells us in the parable of the 
Good Samaritan, gave us to the Church, and said — " Take 
care of this race ; preserve them in this light of knowledge 
and freedom of truth. Preserve them till I come back again, 
and I will pay thee well for thy care." Now, my friends, if 
there were one here to-night who is not a Catholic, he might 
smile in his own soul and say : u This Friar is a very cunning 
fellow. He dresses up things plausibly enough so long as 
he is arguing in the clouds about freedom and the elements 
of freedom, and the soil of freedom. He is quite at home 
there. But when he comes down from the clouds to find 
how this Church, this terrible Church, this enslaving Church, 
has dealt with society, then let him look out ! Then let us 
hear what he has to say for himself ! ;; 

Again, what are those charges that are laid against the 
Catholic Church ? The first charge alleged against her is 
that she does not allow people to read every thing that is 
published. It is quite true. If the Church had her will, 
there are a great many books, that are considered now by 
many people very nice reading, that would all be put in the 
fire. I acknowledge that 5 I admit it. Tell me, my friends, 
— and are there not a great many fathers of families among 
you ? — if one of you found with your little boy some black- 
guard book, some filthy, vile, immoral book, would you let 
your child read it ? Would you consider that you were en- 
slaving his mind by taking that book from him and putting 
it in the fire before his face? If you found one of your 
sons reading some very beautiful passage of Voltaire, in 
which he makes a laughing-stock of faith, and tries to raise 
a laugh against Christ on the cross, would you consider 
you were doing badly for your child — would you consider 



42 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



yourself enslaving him — by taking that book from him and 
putting it in the fire J ? 

Now, this is what the Catholic Church does. She declares 
that people have no right to read that which is against faith 
and morals; that which is against the truth of Christ: that 
which is against the divinity of Christ — that in which the 
pride of the unregenerated mind of man rises up and says : " I 
w T ill not believe : n and, not content with this, he writes a book, 
and tries to make everybody believe and say the same thing. 
The Church says : " Do not read it." There are some whom 
she allows to read it. She lets me read it. She lets my fel- 
low-priests read it. Sometimes she even obliges us to read it. 
Why ? Because she knows we have knowledge enough to see 
the falsity of it, and she allows us to read it that we may re- 
fute it. She does not allow you to read it. And why? I do 
not care to flatter you, my friends. Nothing is more com- 
monly used to lead people astray than a plausible lie. I de- 
clare to you that, although I think " the truth is great and 
must prevail ; " that if I had my choice given to me, and I 
could do it without sin, — if it were given to me to come out 
and try to enforce the truth or to make you believe a lie — I 
really believe I would be able sooner to do the second ; it is 
so much easier for us to flatter — especially with a lie to flatter 
your pride — to tell you you are the finest fellows in the world 
— to tell you you must not be governed by a certain class — 
that you must not be paying taxes ; — that you have no right to 
support an army and navy ; — that you have no right to pay a 
class of men to govern you ; — and thus they go on, playing 
into your hands, playing on your love of money and your love 
of yourself. There is no lie among the whole catalogue of 
lies that, if I were like them, I would not tell you ; and I 
could make you believe it. The Church says: "There is, in 
a certain book, an immoral lesson or a lie, and I will not 
allow my children to read it.' 7 There are books published, 
and I have seen them in the hands of Protestant boys and 
girls, and the very Pope of Rome has not leave to read them. 
They are books that contain direct appeals to immorality, 
direct appeals to the passions — books against both faith and 
morals, . that the Church does not allow to be read by any 
one. But is this slavery $ 

But the argument against Catholicity is that the men who 
make scientific discoveries — the men who said that the world 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 43 



was round, for instance, — men who said that the world was 
round when it was generally believed to be a great flat plain, 
— were put in prison. There is one answer to that : There 
is not a single instance in history of the Church joining issue 
with any minister on any purely scientific subject, and perse- 
cuting him for it. If there was not any question of faith or 
morals involved, she ba.de him "God speed!" and told 
him to go on with his discoveries, if there was any thing 
useful in them, and nothing hostile to religion in them. 
I will give you an instance : In the sixth century there was an 
Irish Saint who was called Yirgilius — (in his own country his 
name was Feargil) — and this man was a great Ouldee monk, 
and a great scholar. . The result of his speculations was that 
he became satisfied in his own mind that this world was a 
globe — round — as it is, — and that there must, therefore, be an- 
tipodes — one on this side and one on the other side, and that 
there must be seas between one land and another. He an- 
nounced this ; and it came among the scientific men of the da}^, 
and fell among them, realty and truly, as if a bombshell had 
burst at their feet. The scholars of the day, the universities 
of the day, appealed, to Rome against him for having pro- 
nounced so fearful a theory : they said it was heresy. What 
did the Pope do ? Remember, you can consult the authorities 
for yourselves. I can give you chapter and verse, if you want 
them. What did that Pope do? He summoned this man 
to Rome. He said : " You are charged with teaching 
a strange doctrine, — with saying that the world is a 
sphere — a globe. Tell us- all about it?" He did so. 
What answer did Feargil get ? The Pope took him by the 
hand. " My dear friend," he said, " go on with your astro- 
nomical discoveries f — and he made him Archbishop of 
Salzburg, and sent him home with a mitre on his head. 
This is how the Catholic Church dealt with intellectual 
liberty when that intellectual liberty did not claim for itself 
any thing bad, and was void of any thing that interfered 
with or was opposed to Christian faith or morals. Do you 
- wish to make us out slaves because we ought not to get a 
knowledge of evil ? One of the theories of the day is that it 
is better to let little boys and girls read every thing, good 
and bad ; to know every thing. Is it better? Do you think 
you know better than Almighty God ? There was one tree in 
the garden of Eden, and Almighty God gave a commandment 



44 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



to Adam and Eve, that they should neither taste of it nor touch 
it. What tree was it % It was the "tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil." Did Almighty God intend to exclude from 
Adam the knowledge of good ? No ; but He intended to ex- 
clude from him the fatal knowledge of evil. A prohibition 
against reading a very bad book was the first and only prohi- 
bition that Almighty God gave to the first man. " Do not 
touch that tree," said He, " because, if you do, you will come 
to the knowledge of that which is evil." " When ignorance 
is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." So says Pope. 

Now, my friends, who are they that make this charge 
against the Catholic Church, that she enslaves her children ? 
Who are they that tell us that the historical mother of all the 
great universities in the old world is afraid of knowledge u ? 
Who are they who tell us that the Church, whose monks, in 
her cloisters, preserved art and science for a thousand years — 
preserved all the ancient relics that we have of ecclesiastical 
learning, and of the learning of Greece and Rome ; — that 
Church that set her monks, her alchemists, and students 
experimentalizing in their cloisters, in the Middle Ages, until 
most of what are called the modern discoveries were made or 
anticipated by them • — who are they who tell us that the 
Church is the enemv of lio-ht and knowledge and of freedom? 
Who are they? They are the Freemasons of the day. 
Freemasons. 

Now, you will allow me, if you please, to retort the asser- 
tion on my friends the Masons — Mazzini and Garibaldi and 
Bismarck ; — for all these are Freemasons. They all say : 
" Oh, let us wash our hands clean of this old institution — 
the Catholic Church. She would make slaves of us all. We 
must give the people freedom j we must give them liberty." 
And then they lay on taxation. Then they tell every citi- 
zen in the land that he must lay aside his spade and become 
a soldier. They tell every man who is eighteen years of age, 
that he is to fight for freedom ; and they thrust him into the 
army. Call you this freedom ? Yet this is what they give 
for the liberty of the Church ! Are they free themselves, 
these Freemasons ? I will give you one answer — and one is 
as good as a thousand. Last December twelvemonth, when 
I was in the city of Dublin, a man came to me. He had 
attended a series of sermons I was preaching in our church 
there. He was an intellectual man, a well-educated man. 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



45 



He came to me and said : " I ought to be a Catholic ,* but 
the fact of it is, I have been so long* away from the Sacra- 
ments and every thing religious that I can scarcely say I 
am, even in name, a Catholic. But now/ 7 he says, " I feel 
and I know that I must do something to save my soul." 
Well, I took him, and instructed him in the holy Sacraments, 
gave him the Holy Communion, and sent him away. He 
said that he had never, for years upon years, known such 
happiness ; and he went on his way. That man received 
Confirmation, and was constant in his duty from December 
until the month of April. Then I waited for him • but, in- 
stead of his coming, he wrote a letter to me. "My Rev. 
friend," he said, u you will, no doubt, be disappointed to find 
I am not coming to you on Saturday. The fact of it is, I 
cannot come. I find that I cannot shake off Freemasonry. 
I have got several notices from my Masonic brethren that I 
must either adhere to them or give up my religion. My 
religion has brought me more happiness than I ever experi- 
enced in my life, and it is with bitter regret I tell 3^011 that 
my business is. falling off,* that they are turning away my 
customers from me ; — and they tell me they will bring me to 
a beggar's grave — a wretched end • and they can and will 
do it. Therefore I hope you will not forget me 5 but I must 
give up the happiness I have had ! " Was that man free, I 
ask you ? 

Who are the men who turn round and tell me I am not 
free ? — who tell me I am not free, because, indeed, I am not 
fettered like a slave, bound by every filthy passion ! Who 
are they' that tell me I am not free, because I do not, of my 
own free will, incline myself and pollute my mind w 7 ith every 
species of evil and impurity ? Who are they who tell me I 
am not free, because in the Church I have to believe that 
what she teaches is true? But I tell them it is true. Who 
are the gentlemen who told my friend that, at the peril of 
his life, he must return to them, and give up his religion? 
These are the men who turn round, nowadays, and tell us 
that in the Catholic Church a man is not free ! But this is 
the Church that has brought me from the slavery of sin into 
the freedom of God, and the glorious hbertx^ of an heir of 
Heaven. As long as you pursue any scientific research, as 
long as you extend your mind in any legitimate, healthy, 
moral course of literature, or in any intellectual pursuit, you 



46 



FATHER BUEKE'S DISCOURSES. 



have the blessing and encouragement of the Church upon you : 
Do not mind the world if it call you a slave. If you come 
to a certain point, if you read certain books, the Church says 
you must become either an impure man or an infidel. Do not 
read them, in God's name ! It is not slavery for the intellect 
to repudiate a lie. It is not slavery for the will to reject that 
which, if once accepted, asserts the dominion of the slavery 
of sin and of habit over the souls of men. This do I say 
with truth : that our mother, the Church, in the principles 
which our Lord established, in her daily sacerdotal exercises, 
is the foster-mother of human freedom. It is a historical 
and a remarkable fact, that the kings of Europe — the King 
of Spain, the Emperor of Germany, the King of England, 
the King of France— exercised the most absolute and irre- 
sponsible power precisely at the time when the Catholic Church 
was weakened in her influence over them by the heresy of 
Martin Luther. It is most remarkable that so absolute in 
England was Henry the Eighth, (and never was there a 
king whose absolute manner of governing and whose conduct 
recalls more the days of the Grand Turk,) that he married a 
woman one day, he killed her the next ; and who was to 
call him to account ? So absolute a king could not have 
done this as a Catholic ; and he threw aside his allegiance. 
If a Catholic king had done these things — if Henry's father 
had done them — if any one of Henry's Catholic predecessors 
had done so, his excommunication would have come from 
Rome. He would have been afraid of his life to do it. He 
would have been afraid of the Pope. What was this but 
securing the people's liberty ! 

Thus do we see that/ so long as the Catholic Church had 
power to exercise, and exercised that power, she exercised it to 
coerce kings into justice, into respect for their subjects and 
for law, for property and for life. This is a historical fact, 
that the Tudors assumed an absolute sovereignty as soon as 
they shook off the Pope, and declared to the people that they 
were the lords and rulers of the consciences, as well as of the 
civil obedience of men. We also know that Gustavus, the 
Protestant King of Sweden, assumed absolute power. We 
also know that that power grew into iron fetters under 
Charles the Fifth, who, though not a Protestant himself, but 
a good Catholic, yet governed a people who were divided in 
their principles of allegiance; and he forsook the world for 



THE CHUBCH THE MOTHER OF LIBERTY. 



47 



the Church. We can bring home history to prove that the 
weakening of the Catholic Church in her temporal power 
over society has been the cause of the assumption of more 
power, more absolute dominion, and more tyrannical exercise 
of that dominion on the part of every ruler in Europe. And, 
therefore, I say that, historically, as well as in principle, the 
Catholic Church is the foster-mother of human liberty. 

And now, my friends, you will be able, by word of mouth, 
to answer all those who call you slaves because you are 
Catholics. You may as well call a man a slave because he 
obeys his father. You may as well say the child is a slave 
because there are certain laws and rules that govern him. 
You may as well say that the citizen is a slave because he 
acknowledges the power of the State to legislate for him, and 
lie bows to the power of that legislation. 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER AND INSPIRATION 
OF ART. 



[A Lecture delivered by the Very Eev. T. JV". Burke, O.P., in the 
Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, Nev: York, March 10, 1872.] 

Dearly Beloved Brethren : This morning I told you 
the Holy Catholic Church was the spouse of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, so described to us in Scripture as " dear to the Lord/' 
the interior beauty of which the Psalmist says is " like the 
beauty of the king's daughter," and of the exterior of which 
he spoke when he said : " The queen stood at His right 
hand, in golden garb, surrounded with variety." We 
saw, moreover, this morning, that the interior beauty and 
ineffable loveliness of the Church consists, above all, in this, 
that she holds enshrined in her tabernacles the Lord, the 
Redeemer of the world, as the Blessed Virgin Mary, His 
mother, held Him in her arms in Bethlehem, as the cross sup- 
ported Him on Mount Calvary ; that she possesses His ever- 
lasting truth, which He left as her inheritance, and which it is 
her destiny not only to hold, but to proclaim and propagate 
to all the nations ; and, finally-, that she holds in her hands 
the sacramental power and agencies by which souls are sanc- 
tified, purified, and saved. In these three features we saw 
the beauty of the Church of God ; in these three we beheld 
how the mystery of the Incarnation is perpetuated in her, for 
Christ our Lord did not for ever depart from earth, but, ac- 
cording to His own word, came back and remained. " I will 
not leave you orphans," He said, " but I will come to you 
again, and I will remain with you all days, even to the con- 
summation of the world." We see in these three w r onderful 
features of the Church's interior beauty how she is truly "the 
city of the Living God," "the abode of grace and holiness ; " 
and, therefore, that all the majesty, all the beauty, all the 
material grandeur with which it is in our power to invest her, 
it becomes our duty to give to her, that she may thus appear 
before the eyes of men a fitting tabernacle for our Divine 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



49 



Lord Himself. We have seen, moreover, how the Church 
of God, acting upon the instincts of her divinely infused life 
and perpetual charity, has always endeavored to attest and 
to proclaim her faith by surrounding the object of that Faith, 
her God, with all that earth holds as most precious and most 
dear. I then told you (if you remember) this morning, that 
the subject for our evening's consideration would be the ex- 
terior beauty of the Holy Church of God — some other fea- 
tures that belong to her distinct from, though not independent 
of, the three great singular graces of God's abiding presence, 
of God's infallible truth, and of the unceasing stream of sac- 
ramental grace that, through her, flows onward ; — those 
features of divine beauty which we recognize upon the face of 
our Holy Mother, the Church. Therefore, dearly beloved, 
the things that are indicated by the exterior garb with which 
the Prophet invested the spouse of Christ : " The queen stood 
on the right hand, in golden garb, surrounded with variety, 77 — 
every choicest gem, every celestial form of beauty embroid- 
ered upon the heavenly clothing of Heaven's Queen, every 
rarest jewel let into the setting of that golden garment, every 
brightest color shining forth upon her. 

What is this exterior beauty of the Church ? I answer 
that it consists in many things — in many influences — in the 
many ways in which she has acted upon society. Ever 
faithful to the cause of God and to the cause of humanity, — 
ever faithful to her heavenly trust, — -after more than eighteen 
hundred years of busy life, she stands to-day before the 
world, and no man can fix upon her virgin brow the shame 
of deception, the shame of cruelty, the shame of the denial 
of the food of man's real life, the Word of Truth, No man 
can put upon her the taint of dishonor, of a compromise with 
hell or with error, or with any power that is hostile to the 
sovereignty of God or to the interests of man. Many, indeed, 
are the ways in which the Church of God has operated upon 
society. Of these many ways, I have selected as the subject 
for our evening's illustration, the power reposed in the 
Catholic Church, and attested by undoubted historical evi- 
dences, — the power which she exercised as the mother and 
inspirer of the fine arts. And, here, let me first of all say, 
that, besides the useful and necessary arts which occupy men 
in their daily life, — the arts that consist in maintaining the 
essential necessaries, and in providing the comforts of life ) 

3 



50 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the arts that result in smoothing away all the difficulties 
that meet us in our path in life, as far as the hand of man 
can materially affect this ; — besides these useful and necessary 
arts, there are others which, are not necessary for 
our existence, — nor, perhaps, even for our comfort, — but 
which are necessary to meet the spiritual cravings and 
aspirations of the human soul, and that fling a grace 
around ourselves. There are arts and sciences which 
elevate the mind, soothe the heart, and captivate the under- 
standing and the imagination of man. These are called " the 
fine arts." For instance : it is not necessary for your life or 
for mine that our eyes should rest with pleasure upon some 
beautiful painting. Without that we could live. Without 
that we could have all that is necessary for our existence — 
for our daily comfort. Yet, how refining, how invigorating, 
how pleasing to the eye, and to the soul to which that eye 
speaks, is the language that appeals to us silently, yet elo- 
quently, as from the lips of a friend, from works of architec- 
ture, or sculpture, or painting ! It is not necessary for our 
lives, nor for the comfort of our lives, if you will, that our 
ears should be charmed with the sweet notes of melodious 
music 5 but is there one among us that has not, at some time 
or other, felt his soul within him soothed, and the burden of 
his sorrow lightened, the pleasure he enjoyed increased and 
enhanced, when music, with its magic spell, fell upon his ear? 
It is not necessary for our lives that our eyes, should be 
charmed with the sight of some grand majestic building; 
but who, among us, is there who has not felt the emotion of 
sadness swell w T ithin him as he looked upon the ivy-clad 
ruin of some ancient church ? Who is there among us 
that has not, at some time or other, felt the softening, refin- 
ing, though saddening influences that crept over him when, 
entering within some time-honored ruin of an abbey, he beheld 
the old lance-shaped windows, through which came streams 
of sunshine like the " light of other days ; " and beheld the 
ancient tracery on that which stood behind the high altar, 
and had once been filled with legends of angels and saints, 
but now open to every breeze of heaven ; — \\ hen he looked 
upon the place as that in which his imagination pictured to 
him holy bishops and mitred abbots officiating there and 
offering up the unbloody sacrifice, while the vaulted arches 
and long-drawn aisles resounded with the loud hosannas of 



THE CRUECH THE MOTHER OF ART, 51 



the long-lost monastic song ? Who is there among us who 
has not felt, at times, elevated, impressed, — aye, filled with 
strong feelings of delight, — as his eye roamed steadily and 
gradually up to the apex of some grand cathedral, resting 
upon niches of saints and angels, and gliding from beauty 
to beauty, until, at length straining his vision, he beheld, 
high among the clouds of heaven, the saving sign of the 
Cross of Christ, upheld in triumph, and flinging its sacred 
shadow over the silent graves ? It is thus these arts, called 
the Liberal or the Fine Arts, fill a great place, and accom- 
plish a great work in the designs of God, and in the history 
of God's Holy Church. 

My friends, the theme which I have propounded to you 
contains two grave truths. The first of these is this : I claim 
for the Catholic Church that she is the mother of the arts ; 
secondly, I claim for her the glory that she has been and is 
their highest inspiration. What is it that forms the peculiar 
attraction, that creates the peculiar influence of art upon the 
soul of man, through his senses ? What is it that captivates 
the eye ! It is the ideal that speaks to him through art. In 
nature there are many beautiful things, and we contemplate 
them with joy, with delight ; — the faint blushes of the morn- 
ing, as the rising sun, with slanting beams, glides over the 
hills and through the glades, filling the valleys with rosy light, 
and revealing the slopes of the hillsides, so luxuriant and so 
bold, - rising up towards the majestic, towering mountains, 
flinging the shadows of their snow-crowned summits to Heaven. 
All this is grand, all this is beautiful. But, in nature, — because 
it is nature, — the perfectly beautiful is rarely or never found. 
Some one thing or other is wanting that would lend an addi- 
tional feature of loveliness to the scene which we contemplate, 
or to the theme, the hearing of which delights us. Now, the 
aim of the Catholic soul of art is to take the beautiful, wher- 
ever it is found, to abstract it from all that might deform it, 
or to add all that might be wanting to its perfect beauty ; to 
add to it every feature and every element that can fulfil the 
human idea of perfect loveliness, and to fling over all the still 
higher loveliness which is caught from Heaven. This is 
called the Ideal" in art. We rarely find it in nature. Do 
we often find it in art ? We do not find that perfect beauty 
in the things around us. We look upon a picture, and there 
we behold portrayed, with supreme power, all the glory of the 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



light that the sun can lend from Heaven — all the glory of 
material beauty ; — but in vain do we look for inspiration. It 
is dead form and color. It has no soul. Among the ancient 
nations — the great fountains of the ancient civilization — 
Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and, finally, Home, — during the 
four thousand years that went before the coming of the 
Eedeemer, — these arts and sciences flourished. We have 
still the remains of the Coliseum, for instance, in Rome, 
combining vastuess of proportion with perfect symmetry ; 
and the mind is oppressed at the immensity of size, while 
the eye is charmed with the beauty of proportion. But, in 
the fourth and fifth centuries, — after the foundation of the 
Church, — after the promulgation of the Christian religion, — 
when the Roman Empire had bowed down her imperial head 
before the glory of the cross of Christ, — it was in the de- 
signs of God that all that ancient civilization, all these ancient 
arts and sciences, should be broken up and perish. From 
Egypt, Syria, and the far East they came : their glory concen- 
trated itself in Greece ; and later, and most of all, in Rome. 
All the wealth of the world was gathered into Rome. All the 
glory of earth was centralized in Rome. Whatever the world 
knew of painting, of sculpture, of architecture, of music, was 
found in Rome, in the highest perfection to which the ancient 
civilization had brought it. Then came the moment when 
the Church was to enter upon her second mission, — that of 
creating a new world and a new civilization. Then came the 
moment when Rome and her ancient empire gravitated to a 
climax by her three hundred years of religious persecution of 
the Church of God, and her crimes were about to be expiated. 
Then came the time when God's designs became apparent. 
Even as the storm-cloud bursts forth and sweeps the earth in 
its resistless force, so, in these centuries of which I speak, 
from the fastnesses of the Xorth came forth dreadful 
hordes of barbarians — men without civilization, men with- 
out religion — men without mercy — men without a writ- 
ten language — men without a history — men without a 
single refining element of faith among them ; — and they 
came, Goths and Visigoths, Huns and Vandals, sweeping 
onward in their resistless might, — almost countless thousands of 
warriors, carrying slavery and destruction in their hands ; — 
and thus they swept over the Western world. Rome went 
down before them. All her glory departed; and so the civ- 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



53 



ilization of Greece and Home was completely destroyed. 
Society was overthrown, and reduced to the first chaotic ele- 
ments of its being. Every art, every science, every splendid 
monument of the ancient world was destroyed ; and, at the 
close of the fifth century, the work of the four thousand pre- 
ceding years had to be done over again. Mankind was re- 
duced to its primal elements of barbarism. Languages never 
before heard, barbaric voices, were lifted up in the halls of the 
ancient palaces of Italy, and in the Forum of Rome. All the 
splendors of the Roman Empire disappeared, and, with them, 
almost every vestige of the ancient arts and civilization of 
the preceding times. No power of earth w 7 as able to with^ 
stand the hordes of Attila. No army was able to make front 
against them. All went down before them, save and except 
one — one organization, one power in the world, — one power, 
founded by Christ and compacted by the very hand of God ,• 
— founded upon an immovable foundation of knowledge and 
of truth ; — one power which, for divine purposes, was allowed a 
respite from persecution for a few years, in order that she 
might be able to present to the flood of barbarism that swept ■ 
away the ancient civilization, a compact and well-formed 
body, able to react upon it ; — and that power was the 
Holy Church of God. She boldly met the assault; she 
stemmed the tide 5 she embraced and absorbed in herself 
nation after nation, million after million of those rude chil- 
dren of the Northern shores and forests. She took them, rough 
and barbarous as they were, to her bosom 5 and, at the end of 
the fifth century, the Church of God began her exterior, 
heroic mission of civilizing the world, and laying the 
foundations of modern civilization and of modern society. 

So it went on until the day when the capital of Rome was 
shrouded in flames, and the ancient monuments of her pride, 
of her glory, and of her civilization, were ruined and fell j and 
almost every vestige of the ancient arts disappeared. The 
Church, on the one hand, addressed herself, first and most 
immediately, to the Christianizing of these Northern nations. 
Therein lay her divine mission ; therein lay the purpose for 
which she was created — to teach them the truths of God. 
While she did this she carefully gathered together all that 
remained of the traditions of ancient Pagan science and art. 
While all over Europe the greater j~>art of the nations were 
engaged in the war between Northern barbarism and civil- 



54 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



ization, and the land was one great battle-field, overflowing 
with blood, the Church gathered into her arms all that she 
could lay her hands on, of ancient literature, of ancient science 
and art, and retired with them into her cloisters. Every- 
where over the whole face of Europe, and in Africa and Asia, 
— everywhere the monk was the one man of learning, — the 
one man who brought with him, into his cloister, the devotion 
to God that involved the sacrifice of his life, the devotion to 
man that considers a neighbor's good, and makes civilization 
and refinement the purpose and study of his life. Where, 
to-day, would be the literature of ancient Greece and Rome, 
if the Church of God, the Catholic Church, had not gathered 
their remnants into her cloisters? Where, to day, would be 
(humanly speaking) the very Scriptures themselves, if these 
monks of old had not taken them, and made the transcribing 
of them, and multiplying copies of them, the business of 
then lives ? And so, all that the world has of science, of 
art, — all that the world has of tradition — of music, of painting, 
of architecture — all that the world has of the arts of Greece 
and Rome, was treasured up for a thousand years in the 
cloisters of the Catholic Church. 

And, now, her twofold mission began. While her 
preachers evangelized, — while they followed the armies of 
the Vandal and the Goth, from field to field, and back to 
their fastnesses of the North ; while they converted those 
rude and terrible sons of the forest into meek, pure-minded 
Christians, upon the one hand, on the other the Church took 
and applied all the arts, all the sciences, all the human agen- 
cies that she had, — and they were powerful, — to the civiliz- 
ing and refining of these barbarous men. Then it was that 
in the cloisters there sprang up, created and fostered by the 
Church of God, the fair and beautiful arts of painting, music, 
and architecture. I say created in the Church. There are 
many among you as well informed as I am in the history of 
our civilization 5 and I ask you to consider that, among the 
debris of the ruin of ancient Rome and of ancient Greece, — 
although we possess noble monuments of the ancient archi- 
tecture, — we have only the faintest tradition of their music, 
or their paintings ? Scarcely any thing. I have visited the 
ruined cities of Italy. I have stood within the walls of 
Ostium, at the mouth of the Tiber, when, after hundreds of 
years, for the first time the earth was removed, and the ancient 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



55 



temples were revealed again. The painting is gone, and 
nothing but the faintest outline remains. Still less of the 
music of the ancients have we. We do not know what the 
music of ancient Greece or of ancient Rome was. All we 
know is that, among the ancient Greeks, there was a dull 
monotone or chorus, struck into an alternating strain. What 
the nature of their music was we know not. Of their 
sculpture, we have abundant remains ; and, indeed, on this it 
may be said that there has not been any modern art which 
has equalled, scarcely approached, the perfection of the 
ancient Grecian model. But the three sciences of architec- 
ture, painting, and music, have all sprung from the cloisters 
of the Church. What is the source of all great modern 
song ? When the voice of the singer was hushed everywhere 
else, it resounded in the Gregorian chant that pealed in loud 
hosannas through the long-drawn aisles of the ancient Catho- 
lic mediaeval churches. It first came from the mind — it came 
from out the loving heart of the holy Pope, Gregory, him- 
self a religious, and consecrated to God as a monk. Whence 
came the organ, the prince, the king of all instruments, the 
faithful type of Christianity — of the Christian congregation 
— so varied yet so harmonious, made up of a multitude of 
pipes and stops, each one differing from the other, yet all 
blending together into one solemn harmony of praise, just as 
you, who come in here before this altar, each one full of his 
own motives and desires — the young, the old, — the grave, the 
gay, — rich and poor— each with his own desire and experi- 
ence of joy, of sorrow, or of hope, — yet before this altar, and 
within these walls do you blend into one united and har- 
monious act of faith, of homage, and of praise before God. 
Whence came the king of instruments to you, — so majestic 
in form, so grand in its volume, — so symbolical of the wor- 
ship which it bears aloft upon the wings of song ? In the 
cloisters of the Benedictine monks do we hear it for the 
first time. When the wearied Crusader came home from 
his Eastern wars, there did he sit down to refresh his soul 
with sacred song. There, during the solemn Mass of mid- 
night, or at the Church's office at matins, — while he heard the 
solemn, plaintive chant of the Church, while he heard the 
low-blended notes of the accompanying organ, skilfully 
touched by the Benedictine's hand, — then would his rugged 
heart be melted into sorrow and the humility of Christian 



56 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



forgiveness. And thus it is the most spiritualizing and high- 
est of all the arts and sciences — this heaven-born art of 
music. Thus did the Church of God make her divine and 
civilizing appeal ; and thus her holy influence was brought 
out during those stormy and terrible times when she under- 
took the almost impossible task of humbling the proud, of 
purifying the unchaste, of civilizing the terrible, the fierce, 
and the blood-stained horde of barbarians that swept, in their 
resistless millions, over the Roman Empire. 

The next great art which the Church cultivated in her 
cloisters, and, which, in truth, was created by her, as it exists 
to-day, was the art of painting. Recall the circumstances of 
the time. Printing was not yet invented. Yet the people 
had to be instructed,— and not only to be instructed but in- 
fluenced; for mere instruction is not sufficient. The mere 
appeal to the power of faith, or to the intellect of man, is not 
sufficient. Therefore did the Church call in the beautiful art 
of painting ; and the holy, consecrated monk, in his cloister, 
developed all the originality of his genius and of his mind 
to reproduce the captivating forms — to reproduce, in silent 
but eloquent words, the mysteries of the Church, — the mys- 
teries which the Church has taught from her birth. Then 
did the mystery of the Redemption, the Incarnation of the 
Son of God, the Angel coming down from Heaven to salute 
Mary, — then did all these greet the eye of the rude, unlettered 
man, and tell him, in language more eloquent than words, 
how much Almighty God in Heaven loved him. But it was 
necessary for this that this art of painting should be idealized 
to its very highest form. It was necessary that the painter's 
hand should fling round Mary's head a halo of virginity and 
of the light of Heaven. It was necessary that the angelic 
form that saluted her should have the transparency of Heaven, 
and of its own spiritual nature, floating, as it were, through 
it in material color. It was necessary that the atmosphere 
that surrounded her, should be as that cloudless atmosphere 
which is breathed before the throne of the Most High. It 
was necessary that the man who looked upon this should be 
lifted up from the thoughts of earth, and engaged wholly in 
the contemplation of objects of Heaven. Therefore, glimpses 
of beauty the most transcendent, aspirations of Heaven, lift- 
ing up the soul from all earthliness — from worldliness, — were 
necessary. For all this the monk was obliged to fast and pray 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



57 



while lie painted. The monk was obliged to lift up his own 
thoughts, his own imagination, his own soul 7 in contemplation, 
and view, as it were, the scene which he was about to illus- 
trate, with no earthly eye. The Church alone could do this : 
and the Church did it. She created the art of painting. 
There was no tradition in the Pagan world to aid the painter; 
no beauty — the beauty of no fair forms, in all the fulness 
of their majestic symmetry, before his eyes to inspire him. 
He must look altogether to Heaven for his inspiration. And 
so faithfully did he look up to Heaven's glories, and so clear 
was the vision that the painter-monk received of the beauties 
he depicted on earth, that, in the thirteenth century, there 
arose, in Florence, a Dominican monk, a member of our 
Order, beatified by his virtues, and called by the single title 
of " The Angelic Painter." He illustrated the Holy Trinity. 
He put before the eyes of the people all the great mysteries 
of our faith. And now, after generations of ages, — after six 
hundred years have passed away, — whenever a painter or 
lover of art stands before one of those wonderful angels and 
saints, painted by the hand of the ancient monk, now in 
Heaven, it seems to him as if the very Angels of God had 
descended from on high and stood before the painter while he 
fixed their glory in colored form, as they appear to the eye of 
the beholder. It seems as if we gazed upon the blessed 
angelic hosts; and as if Gabriel, standing before Mary, 
mingled the joy of the meeting with the solemnity of 
the message which the painter represents him as announc- 
ing. It seems as if Mary is seen receiving the message 
of man's redemption from the Angel, not as a woman of 
earth, but as if she was the very personification of the woman 
that' the inspired Evangelist, at Patmos, saw, " clothed with 
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a 
crown of twelve stars." Michael Angelo, the greatest of 
painters, gazed in wonder at the angels and saints the 
Dominican monk had painted. Astonished he knelt down, 
gave thanks to God, and said : " The man that could have 
painted these must have seen them in Heaven ! 7? 

The architecture of the ancient world, of Greece and of 
Rome, remained. It was inspired by a Pagan idea, that 
never rose above the idea that inspired it. The temples of 
Athens and of Rome remain in all their shattered glory, 
and in all the chaste beauty of their proportions. Very 



58 



FATHER BURKES DISCOURSES. 



remarkable are they, as architectural studies, for this, — that 
they spread themselves out, and covered as much of the earth's 
space as possible ; that the pillars were low and the arches 
low ; and every thing seemed to cling to and tend towards 
earth. For this was the idea, and the highest idea of archi- 
tecture that ever entered into the mind of the greatest of the 
men of ancient civilization. The monk in his cloister, 
designing to build a temple and a house for the living God, 
looking upon the models of ancient Greece and Rome, saw 
in them a grovelling and an earthly architecture. His mind 
was heavenward in aspiration. His thoughts, his affections 
were all purified by the life which he led. Out of that up- 
ward tendency of mind and heart sprang the creation — the 
invention — the new creation — of a new style of Christian 
architecture, which is called the Gothic : as little in it of earth 
as may be — -just sufficient to serve the purpose of a super- 
structure.^ The idea was to raise it as high as possible 
towards Heaven — to raise a monument to Almighty God — a 
monument revealing in every detail of its architecture the 
Divine idea, and the upward tendency of the regenerated 
heart of the Christian man. Now, therefore, let every arch 
be pointed ; now, therefore, let every pillar spring up as 
loftily as a spire ; now, therefore, let every niche be filled 
with angels and saints, — some who were tried in love — others 
who maintained the faith, — teaching the lesson of their sanc- 
tity ; — now pronouncing judgment, now proclaiming mercy. 
Now, therefore, let the high tower be uplifted, on which 
swings the bell, consecrated by the blessing of the Church, 
to fling out upon the air around, which trembles as it receives 
its message, the notes of Christian joy and of Christian 
sorrow. And, high above that tower, let the slender, pointed 
spire seek the clouds, and rear up, as near to Heaven as man 
can go, the symbol of the Cross on which Christ redeemed 
mankind. Such is the Church's idea ; and such is the archi- 
tecture of which she is the mother. Thus we behold the 
glorious churches of the middle ages. Thus we behold 
them, in those ancient and quaint towns of Belgium and of 
France. We behold on their transepts, for instance, a tracery 
as fine as if it were wrought and embroidered by a woman's 
hands, with a strength that has been able to defy the shocks 
of war and the action of ages. If the traveller seeks the 
sunny plains of Italy, he climbs the snow-crowned, solitary 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



59 



Alps, and there, after his steep and rugged ascent, he beholds 
on one side the valleys of Switzerland, with its cities and 
lakes ; and he turns to the land of the noonday sun, and 
sees before him the fair and widespread plains of Lombardy. 
The great rivers flow through these plains, and look as if 
they were of molten silver. The air is pure ; the sky is the 
sky of Italy. Majestic cities dot the plains at his feet. But, 
among them all, as the sun flings his Italian light upon the 
scene, — among them all, he beholds one thing that dazzles 
his eyes with its splendor. There, far away in the plains, 
within the gates of the vast city of Milan, -he sees a palace 
of white marble rising up from the earth 5 ten thousand 
statues of Saints around it 5 w T ith countless turrets, and a 
spire with a pinnacle rising towards Heaven, as if in a riot of 
•Christian joy. The sun sparkles upon it as if it were covered 
with the rime of a hoar frost, or as if it were made of molten 
silver. Possibly his steps are drawn thither, and it pleases 
him to enter the city. Never before — never, even with the 
eve of the mm cl — lias the traveller seen so grand an idea of 
the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ. Here He reigns. 
Who can deny the historical facts which I have narrated ? 

•Who can deny that, if to-day our ear is charmed with the 
sound of music — our eye delighted with the contemplation 
of paintings, — if our hearts within us are lifted up at the sight 

•of some noble monument of architecture, — who can deny, 
with such facts before him, that it was the Church that 
created these, — that she is the mother of these, — and that 
she brought them forth from out the chaos and the ruin that 
followed the destruction of the pagan civilization. 

Thus, while the Church was their mother, she was 
also their highest inspiration. For, remember, that the 
zeal in art may be taken from earth, or drawn from Heaven. 
Art may aspire to neither more nor less than "to hold 
the mirror up to nature." The painter, for instance, may 
aspire to nothing more than to render faithfully, as it is in 
nature, a herd of cattle, or a busy scene in the town. The 
musician may aspire to nothing more than the pleasure 
which his music will give to the sense of the voluptuous in man. 
The architect may aspire to nothing more than the creation, 
in a certain space, of a certain symmetry of proportion, and 
a certain usefulness in the work of his hands. They may 
u hold a mirror up to nature ; " but this is not a perfect 



60 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



idealization of art. The true ideal holds the mirror of its 
representation not only up to nature, to copy that nature 
faithfully, but — higher still — to God, to catch one ray of 
divine inspiration, one ray of divine light, one ray of heavenly 
instruction, and to fling that pure heavenly light over the 
earthly productions of his art. This pious inspiration is only 
to be found in the Catholic Church. It is found in her music 
— those strains of hers which we call the " Gregorian chant, ,; 
— which, without producing, any very great excitement or 
pleasure, yet fall upon the ear, and, through the ear, upon the 
soul, with a calming, solemn influence, and seem to speak to 
the affections in the very highest language of worship. 
Plaintively do they fall, — yes, plaintively, — because the 
Church of God has not yet shone over the earth in the fulness 
of her glory : plaintively, because the object of her worship 
is mainly to make reparation to an offended God for the 
negligence of the sinner : plaintively, because the words 
which this music breathes are the words of the penitent, 
and the contrite of heart : plaintively, — because, perhaps, 
my brethren, the highest privilege of the Christian here is a 
holy sadness, according to the words of Him who said : 
" Blessed are they who mourn and w r eep, for they shall 
be comforted." 

In the lapse of years, the Church again brought forth 
another method and gave us another school, which expresses 
to-day the pious exultation, the riot of joy, with which, on 
Christmas day, Palsestrina sung before Pope Marcel lus in 
Rome. Hear, for instance, the " Magnificat," as it resounds 
within the Catholic Cathedrals at the hour of prayer. Hear, 
for instance, some of the hymns, time-honored and ancient, 
in which she breaks in on an Easter morning, and which she 
sets to the words — the triumphant words — of the " Alleluia!" 
Who cannot say — who is there with trained, sympathetic ear 
who hears them, who cannot say — that the inspiration which 
is in them is altogether of Heaven — heavenly : — and that it 
lifts up the soul to the contemplation of heavenly themes, and 
to the triumph of Jesus Christ. The highest inspiration 
comes through faith. 

Let us turn to the art of painting. So long as this noble 
art was in the hands of the Monk — the man of God — so long 
had we masterpieces of painting, such as have never been 
equalled by any that since came forth — masterpieces by men 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 61 

who fasted and prayed, and looked upon their task, as pain- 
ters, to be a heavenly and a holy one. We read of the 
, Blessed Angelico, the Dominican painter, whose works are 
the glory of the world to-day, — we read of him, that he never 
laid his brash to a painting of the Mother of God, or of Oar 
Lord, except on the day when he had been at Holy Com- 
munion. "We read of him that he never painted the infant 
Jesus, or the Crucifixion, except on his knees. We read of 
him that, while he brought out the divine sorrow in the Virgin 
Mother for the Saviour on the cross, — while he brought out 
the God-like tribulation of Him who suffered there, — he was 
obliged to dash the tears from his eyes — the tears of love — 
the tears of compassion — which produced the high inspiration 
of his genius. Nay, the history of this art of painting teaches 
us that all the great masters were eminent as religious men, 
and that when they separated from the Church, as we see, 
their inspiration left them. The finest pictures that Raphael 
ever painted were those which he painted in his youth, while 
his heart was yet pure, and before the admiration of the world 
had made him stain the integrity of his soul by sin. The 
rugged, the almost omnipotent genius of Michael Angelo 
was that of a man deeply impressed with faith, and most 
earnestly devoted to the practice of his religion. Whether 
in the Vatican of Rome, or over the high altar of the Sistine 
Chapel, he brings out all the terrors of the Divine J udgment, 
which he puts there, in a manner that makes the beholder 
tremble to-day, — the Lord in the attitude, not of blessing, but 
of sweeping denunciation over the heads of the wicked, — he 
took good care, by prayer, by frequenting the Sacraments, by 
frequent confession and communion, and by the purity of his 
life, to avert the punishments that he painted from falling on 
his own head. The most glorious epoch in the history of 
architecture was precisely that in the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries, when there arose the minsters of York, of 
Westminster ; of Notre Dame, in Paris ; of Rouen, and all 
the wonderful old churches that, to-day, are the astonishment 
of the world for the grandeur and majesty of their propor- 
tions, and the beauty of design they reveal. These churches 
sprang up at the very time that the Church alone held un- 
disputed sway j when all the arts were in her hands, and when 
the architects who built* them were nearly all consecrated 
sons of the cloister. It is worthy of remark that we do not 



62 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



know the name of the architect that built St. Patrick's or 
Christ Church, in Dublin. We do not know the name of 
the architect that built Westminster Abbey, nor any" one of 
those great and mighty mediaeval churches throughout 
Europe. We know, iudeed, the name of the architect who 
built St. Paul's in London, and of him who built St. Peter's, 
in Rome. They were laymen. The men who laid the 
foundations (that rarely appear to the eye) were Monks, and 
are now in the dust ; and, in then humility, they brought 
the secret of their genius to the grave, and no names of 
theirs are emblazoned on the annals of the world's fame. 

Thus we see the highest civilization, the highest inspira- 
tion of the arts, — music-, painting and architecture, — came 
from the Catholic Church, — and that the most attractive of 
them all was created in her cloisters. The greatest painters 
that ever lived had come forth from her bosom, animated by 
her spirit. The greatest churches that ever were built were 
built and designed by her consecrated children. The grand 
strains of ecclesiastical music, expressing the highest ideas 
resounded in her cathedral churches. The world* had grown 
under her fostering care. Young Republics had sprung up 
under the Church's hand and guidance. The Italian Repub- 
lics—the Republics of Florence, of Pisa, of Venice, of 
Genoa, — all gained their municipal rights and rights of citi- 
zenship — (rights that were established for protection, and to 
insure equality of the law,) — under the Church's protection. 
Kay, more. The Church was ever willing and ready, both 
by legislation and by action, to curb the petty tyrants that 
oppressed the people ; to oblige the rugged castellan to 
emancipate his slaves. The Church was ever ready to send 
her highest representatives, Archbishops and Cardinals, into 
the presence of Kings, to demand the people's rights. And 
the very man who wrung the first principles of the British 
Constitution from an unwilling and tyrannical king, was the 
Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury — the only man who would 
dare to do it ; for (and well the tyrant knew it) he could not 
touch the Archbishop, because the arm of the Church was 
outstretched for his protection. Society was formed under her 
eyes and under her care. Her work now seemed to be nearly 
completed, when the Almighty God, in His wisdom, let fall a 
calamity upon the world ; and I think you will agree with 
me, — even such among you (if there be any) who are not 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



63 



Catholics, — that a calamity it was ; a calamity fell upon the 
world in the sixteenth century, which not only divided the 
Church in faith and separated nations from her, but which 
introduced new principles, new influences, new and hostile 
agencies which were destructive of the most sacred rights. I 
am not here this evening so much as a preacher as a 
lecturer. I am not speaking to you so much as a priest as a 
historian ; and I ask you to consider this : — W e are accus- 
tomed to hear on every side that Protestantism was the eman-' 
cipation of the. human intellect from the slavery of the Pope. 
To that I have only to answer this one word : Protestantism 
substituted the uncertainty of opinion instead of the certainty 
of faith w T hich is in the Catholic Church. Protestantism 
declared that there was no voice on earth authorized or 
empowered to proclaim the truth of God ; that the voice that 
had proclaimed it for fifteen hundred years had told a lie ; 
that the people were not to accept the teaching of the Cath- 
olic Church as an authoritative and time-honored law, but that 
they were to go out and look for the faith for themselves, 
— and in the worst way of all. Every man was to find a 
faith for himself ; and when he had found it, he had no satis- 
factory guarantee, no certainty, that he had the true inter- 
pretation of the truth. If this be emancipating the intellect — 
if this changing of certainty into uncertainty, dogma into 
opinion, faith into a search after faith, be emancipation of the 
intellect, then Christ must have told a lie when He said : 
" You shall know the truth ; and the truth shall make you 
free ! " The knowledge of the truth He declared to be the 
highest freedom : and, therefore, I hold, not as a priest, but 
simply as a philosopher, that the assertion is false which says 
that the work of Protestantism was the emancipation of the 
intellect. All the results of modern progress — all the scienti- 
fic success and researches that have been made — in a word, 
all the great things that have been done — are all laid down 
quietly at the feet of Protestantism as the effects of this 
change of religion. In England nothing is more common 
than for good Protestants to say that the reason why we are 
now in so civilized a condition is because Martin Luther set 
up the Protestant religion. Protestantism claims the electric 
telegraph. The Atlantic cable does not lie so much in a bed 
of sand as on a holy bed of Protestantism that stretches from 
shore to shore ! They forget that there is a philosophical 



64 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



axiom which says : " One thing may come after another, and 
yet it may not be cansed by the thing that went before." If 
one thing comes after another, it does not follow that it is the 
effect of the other. It is true that all these things have 
sprung np in the world since Protestantism appeared. It is 
perfectly true that the many have learned to read since Pro- 
testantism gained ground. But why? Is it because the 
Catholic Church kept the people in ignorance ? No : it was 
because of a single want. It was about the time Protestant- 
ism sprung up that the art of printing was invented. Of 
course the many were not able to read when they had no 
books. The Catholic Church, as history proves, was even 
far more zealous than the Protestant new-bom sect, in 
multiplying copies of the Scripture and in multiplying books 
for the people. Now, one of the reproaches that is made to 
us to-day is, that we are too busy in the cause of education. 
Surely if the Catholic Church is the mother of ignorance, 
that reproach cannot be truly made. Now, Protestants are 
making a noise and saying that the Church, in every 
country and on every side, is planning and claiming to 
educate. But all this is outside of my question. My ques- 
tion deals with the fine arts. 

Now, mark the change that took place ! Protestantism 
undoubtedly weakened the Church's influence upon society. 
Undoubtedly it took out of the Church's hands a great deal 
of that power which we have seen the Catholic Church exer- 
cise, for more than a thousand years, upon the fine arts. 
They claim, or they set up a rival claim of fostering the arts 
of music, of architecture, and of painting, so that these may 
no longer claim to receive their special inspiration from the 
Church, which was their mother and their creator, and 
through which they drew then heavenly genius. Well, the 
arts were thus divided in their allegiance, and thus deprived 
of their inspiration, by the institution of this new religion. I 
ask you to consider, historically, whether that inspiration of 
art, that high and glorious inspiration, that magnificent ideal, 
was not destroyed the moment it was taken from under the 
guidance and inspiration of the Catholic Church. I say that 
it was destroyed ; and I can prove it. Since the day that 
Protestantism was founded, the art of architecture seems to 
have perished. No great cathedral has been built. No great 
original has appeared. No new idea has been expressed from 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



65 



the day that Luther declared schism in the Church, and 
warre.d against legitimate authority. No Protestant has 
ever originated a noble model in modern architecture. It has 
sunk down into a servile imitation of the ancient, grovel- 
ling forms of Greece and Rome. Nay, whenever the ancient 
Gothic piles — majestic and inspiring Christian churches — fell 
into their hands, what did they do ? They pulled them down 
in order to build up some vile Grecian imitation ; or else 
they debased the ancient grandeur and purity of the Gothic 
cathedral, by mixing in a servile imitation of some ancient 
heathen or pagan temple. 

As to the art of painting, the painter no longer looked up 
to Heaven for his subject. The painter no longer considered 
that his pious idea w 7 as to instruct and elevate his fellow-man. 
The painter no longer selected for his subject the Mother of 
God, or the sacred humanity of our Lord, or the Angels and 
Saints of Heaven. The halo of light that was shed upon the 
brush of the blessed Angelico, — the halo of divine light that 
surrounded the Virgin's face as it grew under the creative 
hand of the young Christian painter, — the halo of heavenly 
light that surrounded the Judge upon his throne, in the 
fresco of Michael Angelo, — this is to be found only in Chris- 
tian art. The highest ambition of the painter, now, is to 
sketch a landscape true to nature. The highest excellence 
of art seems now to be to catch the colors that approach most 
faithfully to the flesh tints of the human body. And it is a 
remarkable fact, my friends, that the art of animal painting, — 
painting cows and horses, and all these things, — began with 
Protestantism. One of the very first animal painters w 7 as 
Roos, a German Protestant, who came to Rome; and the 
reproach of his fellow-painters was, " There is the man that 
paints the cows and horses." Even sacred subjects were dealt 
w T ith in this debased form, — in this low and empty inspiration. 
How were they dealt with ? Look, for instance, at the Mag- 
dalens ; look at the Madonnas of Rubens. Rubens, himself, 
was a pious Catholic ; yet his paintings displayed the very 
genius of Protestantism. If he wanted to paint the Blessed 
Virgin,, he selected some corpulent and gross-looking woman, 
in whom he found some ray of mere sensual beauty that struck 
his eye; and he put her on the canvas, and held her up 
before men as the Virgin, whose prayer was to save, and 
whose power was above that of the angels ! The artist who 



6o 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



would truly represent her on canvas, must nave his pencils 
touched with the purity and grandeur of Heaven. 

Music lost its inspiration when it fell from under the guid- 
ance of the Church. No longer were its strains the echoes 
of Heaven. No longer is the burden of the hymn the heav- 
enly aspiration of the human soul, tending towards its last 
and final beatitude. Oh, no ! but every development that 
this high and heavenly science receives is a simple degrada- 
tion into the celebration of human passion ; into the magnify- 
ing of human pride : into the illustration of all that is worst 
and vilest in man : and the highest theme of the musician to- 
day is not the " Dies Irce" — an expression, as it were, of the 
prayers of the Angels in Heaven for the dead ; — it is not the 
"Stalled Mater" the wailing voice of the Virgin's sorrow ; it 
is not the "Alleluia" to proclaim to the world the glories of 
the risen God : no, the highest theme of the musician to-day 
is to take up some story of sensual, and merely human, love ; 
to set that forth with all the charms and all the meretricious 
embellishments of art. 

Thus do we behold, in our own experience of to-day, how 
the arts went down and lost their inspiration, as soon as 
there were taken from them the genius and the inspiring 
influence of the Church that created them, and through them 
civilized the world, and brought to us whatever we have of 
civilization and refinement in this nineteenth century. 
Thank God, the reign of evil cannot last long upon this 
earth. It is one of the mysterious circumstances that the 
coming of our Lord developed. Before the Incarnation of 
the Son of God, an evil idea seemed to be in the nature of 
man. It propagated itself, it found a home, and an abiding 
dwelling among the children of men. But since the Incar- 
nation of the Son of God, since the Eternal Word of God 
vouchsafed to take a human soul, a human body, human 
sensibilities, and, I will add, human genius, — since that time 
the base and the vile, and the ephemeral, and the degraded, 
may come ) may debase art and artists, may spoil the spirit 
of art for a time ; but it cannot last very long. There is a 
native force, a nobleness in the soul of man that rises in 
revolt against it. 

And to-day, even to-day, the hour of revival seems 
to be coming, — almost arrived, — is already come. The 
three arts, of Painting, of Music, and Architecture, seem 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 67 

to be rising with their former inspiration, and seem to 
catch again a little of the departed light that was shed 
on them and flowed through them, from religion. Archi- 
tecture revives, and the glories of the thirteenth century, 
though certainly^ they may not be eclipsed, yet they are 
almost equalled by the glories of the nineteenth. But a 
short distance from this, you see, in the middle of this great 
city, rising in its wonderful beauty, that which .promises to 
be, and is to be, of all the glories of this city, the most 
glorious, — the great Cathedral. Across the water, you see 
in the neighboring city of Brooklyn the fair and magnifi- 
cent proportions of that which will be, in a few years, the 
glory of that adjacent shore, when on this side, and on that, 
each tower and spire and pinnacle upholding an Angel or 
Saint, the highest of all will uphold the Cross of Jesus 
Christ. 

Music is reviving again, — catching again the pure spirit 
of the past. A taste for the serene, the pure, the most 
spiritual songs of the Church, is every day gaining ground, 
and taking hold of the imagination. Painting, thank God, 
is reviving again, and of this you have here abundant 
proof. Look around you ! No gross, earthly figure stands 
out in the bare proportions of flesh and blood. ISTo vile 
exposure of the mere flesh invites the eye of the voluptuous 
to feast itself upon the sight. The purity of God is here. 
The purity of the Church of God overhangs it ) and the 
story of these scenes will go home to your hearts and to 
the hearts of your children, as the story that the blessed 
Angelico told in Florence six hundred years ago. Thanks 
be to God, it is so ! Thanks be to God, that, when I lift 
up my eyes, I may see so much of the purity of tne face 
down which flow the last tears of blood ! When I lift up 
mine eyes here, it seems to me as if I stood bodily in the 
holy society of these men. It seems to me that I see in the 
face of John the expression of the highest manly sympathy 
that comforted and consoled the d} 7 ing eyes of the Saviour. 
It seems to me that I behold the Blessed Virgin, whose 
maternal heart consented, in that hour of agony, to be 
broken for the sins of men. It seems to me that I behold 
the Magdalen, as she clings to the Cross, and receives, upon 
that hair with which she wiped His feet, the drops of His 
blood. It seems to me that I behold that heart, humbled 



68 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



in penance and inflamed with love — the heart of the woman 
who had loved much, and for whom He had prayed. It 
seems to me that I travel step by step to Calvary, and 
learn, as they unite in Him, every lesson of suffering, of 
peace, of hope, of joy, and of divine love ! Thank God, 
it is fitting, in a Dominican Church, that this should be so ! 
It is fitting, in a temple of my Order, that, when I look 
upon the image of my holy Father over that entrance, 
in imagination, and without an effort, I travel back to the 
spot where I had the happiness to live my student's days, and 
where, in the very cell in which I dwelt, I beheld, from 
Angelico's own hand, one glorious specimen of his art. These 
are the gladness of our eyes, the joy of our hearts. They 
give us reason to rejoice with Him who said : "I have loved, 
Lord, the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy 
glory dwelleth." They give us reason to rejoice because 
they are not only fair and beautiful in themselves, but they 
are also the guarantee and the promise that the traditions of 
ecclesiastical painting, sculpture, architecture and music in 
this new country, shall yet come out and rival all the glories 
of the nations that for centuries and centuries have upheld 
the Cross. They are a cause of gladness to us j for, when 
we shall have passed away, our children, and our children's 
children shall come here, and, in reviewing these pictures, 
shall learn to feel the love of Jesus Christ. 

Among the traditions of one of the old cities of Belgium, 
there is one of a little boy, who grew up, visiting every day 
the Cathedral of the city. One day he stood with wondering 
and. childlike eyes before a beautiful painting of the infant 
Jesus. According as time went on, and reason grew upon 
him, hi? love for the picture became greater and greater ; 
and when he became a man, his love for it was so great 
that he spent his days in the Cathedral as organist, pealing 
forth the praises of the Son of God. His manhood went down 
into the vale of years ; but his love for the picture was still the 
one child-love — the young love and passion of his heart. 
And so he lived, a child of art, and died in the odor of sanc- 
tity, a child of God. And that art had fulfilled its 
highest mission, for it had sanctified the soul of a man. 
Oh, may these pictures, that we look upon with so 
much pleasure, teach to you, and to your children 
after you, the lesson they are intended to teach, of the 



THE CHURCH THE MOTHER OF ART. 



69 



love, of the charity, of the mercy of Jesus 5 that — loving Him 
and loving the beauty of His house, and catching every gleam 
that faith reveals of her higher beauty, and every thing that 
speaks of Him for ever — you may come to behold Him as He 
shines in the uncreated light and majesty of His glory ! 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



IA Sermon delivered by the Very Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in the 
Dominican Church, New York, on Sunday, March 24, 1872.] 

I told you this morning, my brethren, that we should con- 
fine our attention, during the next few days, to the groupings 
that surrounded our Blessed Lord upon the Hill of Calvary. 
I then intended, this evening, to put before you the various 
characters and classes of men who were there as the enemies 
of God. I must, however, alter somewhat this programme. 
To-morrow will be the Feast of the Annunciation of the 
Blessed Virgin — one of the greatest festivals of the Christian 
year — commemorating a mystery from which all the mys- 
teries of our redemption have flown. It will be held, as you 
are aware, as of obligation ; and, therefore, I shall be obliged 
so far to depart from my original design, as to let in, to- 
morrow evening, a sermon on the great festival of the day — 
the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. Thus far I must 
interfere with the plan I have laid down, and this will oblige 
me, this evening, simply to notice briefly the different groups 
and classes by which the enemies of our Divine Lord were 
represented upon Calvary. We shall pass, at once, to the 
consideration of the man who stood there as the friend of his 
dying Lord and Saviour. 

There were many classes of men surrounding our Blessed 
Lord on that fearful and terrible journey, when, starting from 
the house of the High Priest, Annas, He turned His face 
towards Calvary, and set out upon the dolorous " Way of 
the Cross." The men who, sitting in that tribunal, had con- 
demned Him, were not satisfied with that sentence ; but, in 
the eagerness of their revenge, they would fain witness His 
execution ; following out the expressed word of the Evange- 
list, that the .Scribes and Pharisees followed our Lord, and 
fed their revengeful eyes upon the contemplation of His three 
hours of agony on the Cross. The immediate agents of this 
terrible act of execution were the Roman soldiers of the 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



71 



cohort who had scourged Him, who had crowned Him 
with thorns, and who accompanied Him with stolid indiffer- 
ence to the place of his execution. They were the pagans. 
They were men who had never heard of the name of 
God. They were men who, had they heard of it, must 
have heard of it, if at all, in a language which they scarcely 
understood, and which was the medium of the common record 
of what were called " the wonders," — that is, of the miracles 
of Christ. But it scarcely stirred up in them even a natural 
curiosity ; and, therefore, they brought him to execution, as 
they w T ould have dragged any other criminal 5 with this one 
exception, that, by a strange, diabolical possession, they 
looked upon this man, of whom they knew nothing, — upon 
this man who had never injured them in word or in deed, — 
with intense abhorrence, and hated him with an inexplicable 
hatred. They thus typified the nations which, in the old law, 
knew not the Lord of Truth. In paganism, in the darkness 
of the wickedness of their infidelity, they know not the name 
of God. When that name is pronounced in their presence, it 
falls upon their ears rather as the name of an enemy than 
that of a friend. They cannot explain why they hate Him. 
No more can we explain the hatred of the Roman soldiers. 
The missionary goes forth to-day in all the power of the 
priesthood of Christ. He stands in the presence of the people 
of China or of Japan. As long as he speaks to them of 
the civilization, of the immense military power, of the riches 
and of the glory of the country from which he comes, they 
hear him willingly and with interested ears. As long as he 
reveals to them any secret of human science, they make use 
of him, they are glad to receive him. Thus it is, we know, 
that some of the Jesuit missionaries held the very highest 
places at the court of the Emperor of China. But as soon as 
ever the missionary mentions the name of Christ, they not 
only refuse to hear him, but they are stirred up on the instant 
with diabolical rage ; hate and anger flash from xheir eyes ; 
they lay hold of the messenger who bringeth them the mes- 
sage of peace and love, and of eternal life ; and they imag- 
ine they have not fulfilled their duty until they have shed his 
heart's blood upon the spot. Oh, how vast is the crowd of 
those who, for centuries, have thus greeted the Son of God 
and every man who speaks in His name ! Think of the out- 
lying millions, to whom, for eighteen hundred years and more, 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the Church — the messenger of God — has preached and ap- 
pealed, but in vain ! Behold the class that was represented 
round the Cross, lifting up indifferent, stolid, or, if any thing, 
scowling faces, amid the woes of Him who, in that hour of His 
agony and of His humiliation, mingled His prayers for forgive- 
ness with the last drop of blood that flowed through His 
wounds from His dying heart ! 

There is another class there. It is made up of those who 
knew Him well, or who ought to have known Him. They 
had seen His miracles ; they had witnessed His sanctity ; they 
had disputed with Him upon the laws, until He had convinced 
them that His was the wisdom that could not belong to man, 
but to God. He had silenced them. He had answered every 
argument that foolhardy and audacious men made to Him. 
He had reduced them to such shame that no man ever wanted 
to question Him again. But He interfered with their interests 
and their pride. That pride revolted against submitting to 
Him. That self-love and self-interest prompted the thought 
that, if He lived, His light would outshine theirs, and their in- 
fluence with the people would be gone. These were the Scribes 
and the Pharisees. They were the leaders of the people. 
They were the magistrates of Jerusalem. They were the 
men whose loud voice and authoritative tones were heard in 
the Temple. They were the men who walked into that 
house as if it was not the house of God, but their house. 
They were the men who walked fearlessly up to the altar, to 
speak words of blasphemous pride, and call them prayers. 
They were the men who despised the humble Publican 
making his act of contrition. They were the men who lifted 
their virtuous hands and hypocritical eyes to Heaven to lament 
over the weakness of human nature. They were the men 
who hated Christ, because they could not argue with Him — 
because they could not uphold their errors against His truth — 
because they could not hold their own, but were struck dumb 
at the sight of His sanctity and the sound of His powerful 
voice. What did they do ? They began to tell lies to the 
people. They began to tell the people how He was an im- 
postor and a blasphemer. They began to miblead the 
people, — to warp the estimate that people might make of 
Christ ! They endeavored to find false witnesses to bring 
them to swear away, first, His character and, then, His life. 
Ah! need I say whom they represent? Xeed I tell a 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



73 



people in whose memories is fresh, to-day the ever recur- 
ring lie that is flung in the face of the Catholic Church, 
— the ever-recurring false testimony that is brought against 
her, — the burning of her churches, the defiling of her altars, 
the outrages on her priests, — the insults heaped upon her 
holy nuns, the people inflamed against the very name of Cath- 
olicity itself, so that the word might be fulfilled of Him who 
said : " They shall cast out your very name as evil for My 
sake"? The men who made the very name of a Monk, or a 
Friar, or a Jesuit mean something awfully gross, or sensual, 
or material, were naturally worldly and deceitful. I need 
not point out to you that, in the midst of you, and every 
day, from their pulpits, from their conventicles, through 
their daily press — every day we are made familiar with the 
old lie, shifted and changed, tortured, distorted, and twisted, 
and the false testimony brought out in a thousand forms 
of falsehood. 

And there were others who believed in Christ — who 
knew Him — who had enjoyed His conversation and His 
friendship, and who were afraid to be seen in His com- 
pany in that dark hour, and upon that hill of shame. 
Where were the Apostles? Where were the Disciples? 
They had fled from their Master because it was dangerous to 
be seen with Him ! Judas, the representative of the man who 
sells his religion and his God for this world; who sells 
his conscience in order to fill his purse j who sells every 
thing that is most sacred when that demand is made upon 
him for temporal profit and pelf ; who seals his iniquity by a 
bad communion, in order to save appearances ; while with 
one hand he was taking money from the Pharisees, with the 
other hand he was taking Christ to his breast; — the man 
who played a double part — the man who did not wish to 
break utterly with his Lord, nor to sacrifice the good opinion 
of his fellow-apostles ; and, therefore, he received damnation 
to himself in a bad communion ; — he does not dare to climb 
the rugged steep of Calvary; but he stands afar off': and the 
vision that he sees, of so much sorrow, so much suffering ; — 
the vision that he sees passing before his eyes is his Lord, his 
Master in whom he still believes, though he has betrayed 
Him ; his Lord, his Master, torn with scourges from head to 
foot ; crowned with thorns ; disguised in His own blood ; 
blinded with the blood that was flowing down from every 

4 



74 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



wound in His sacred brow : — his Lord and his Master, who 
had so often spoken to him words of friendship and of love ; 
passed before the eyes of the renegade and traitor. As he 
looked, and his eyes caught, for an instant, the countenance 
of that figure tottering along in weakness and in pain, — the 
sight brought back remembrance of the days that were gone, 
with no glimmering of hope, no light of consolation to his 
soul, but only the feeling that he had betrayed his God, and 
that he held then, in his infamous purse, the money for which 
he had sold his soul and his conscience. He stood aghast and 
pale. He tore his hair and wrung his hands. He found that 
he could not live to see the consummation of his iniquity ; 
and, before the Saviour had sent forth the last cry for a re- 
deemed world, the soul of the suicide Judas had gone down 
to hell ! " It were better for him had he never been born ! " 
Does he represent any class ? Are there not in this world 
men who are almost glad to have something to barter with 
the world, when they give up their holy faith and religion in 
order to clutch this world's possessions ¥ Have we not read 
in the history of the nations — in the history of the land from 
which most of us sprang — have we never read of men selling 
their faith for this world's riches and this world's honors ? 
Have we never read, in the history of the world, of men who, 
in order to save appearances, approached the holy altar and 
received the holy communion ? Of monarchs who, in order 
to stand well with their Catholic subjects, made a show of 
going to holy communion ? And of sycophants and court- 
iers who, in order to please a king, in a fit of piety or a fit of 
repentance, w 7 ent to holy communion ? But time' will not 
permit me to linger in the contemplation of the many classes 
of the worldly-minded ; the false friend, the bitter, though 
conscious, enemy ; the heartless executioners ) the exact re- 
presentatives of those who crowded round the Cross in that 
terrible hour. 

But there was one there ; — and it is to that one that my 
thoughts and my heart turn this night, — there was one there 
who was destined to be, through all ages, and unto all nations, 
a type of what the true Christian man — the friend of Christ, 
must be ) a true representative of the part that he must play, 
in the sacrifice that, from time to time, he must make, to test 
the strength and the tenderness of his love. There w T as one 
there, young and beautiful, who did not flinch from his Mas 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



75 



ter and Lord in that hour ; who walked by His side ; who 
shared in the reproaches that were showered upon the head 
of the Son of God, and took his share of the grief and the 
shame of that terrible morning of Good Friday. - There was 
one there, whom the Master permitted to be there, that he 
might, as it were, lean upon the strength of his manhood and 
the fearlessness of his love. That one was John, the Evan- 
gelist. Behold him, as with virginal eyes, he looks up as a 
man to his fellow-man on the Cross ! Behold him as he seems 
to say : " Oh, Master ! Oh, Lover of my soul and heart ! can I 
relieve you of a single sorrow by taking it up and making it 
my own?" This was John. Consider who he was, and 
what. Three graces surrounded him as he stood at the foot 
of the Cross. Three divine gifts formed a halo of heavenly 
light around his head. They were the grace of Christian 
purity, the grace of divine love, and the manliness of the 
bravery that despises the world, when it is a question of giv- 
ing testimony of love and of fidelity to his God and his 
Saviour - — three noble gifts, with which the world is so ill- 
supplied to-day ! Oh, my brethren, need I tell you that, of 
all the evils in this our day, there is one which has arrived 
at such enormous proportions that it has received the name 
of " The Social Evil ! " — the evil which finds its way into 
every rank and every grade of society 5 the evil which, raising 
its miscreated head, now and again frightens us, and terrifies 
the very world by the evidence of its widespread pestilence ) 
— the evil that, to-day, pollutes the hearts, destroys the souls 
of the young, and shakes our nature and our manliness to its 
very foundations, and brings down the indignant and the 
sweeping curse of God upon whole nations! Need I tell 
you that that evil is the terrible evil of impurity, — the unre- 
strained passion, the foul imagination, the debased and 
degraded cravings of this material flesh and blood of ours, 
rising up in rebellion, and declaring, in its inflamed desires, 
that nothing of God's law, nothing of God's redemption shall 
move it ; that all, all may perish, but that it must be satiated 
and gorged with that food of lust, of which, says the holy 
Apostle, " the taste is death." Of this I have already spoken 
to you, and also of the opposite virtue, the "index" virtue, 
as it is called — the virtue of virtues ; of that I have also 
spoken to you, that by which lost man is raised up to the 
very perfection of his spiritual nature 5 by which the Divine 



76 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



effulgence of the highest resemblance to Christ is impressed 
upon the soul ; by which the brightness of the Virgin, and 
of the Virgin's Son, seems to pass forth, even from His body, 
and sink into the soul's tissues, until it becomes divine. 
Such vhtue of angelic purity did Christ, our Lord, come to 
establish upon earth. Such virtue did He lay as the found- 
ation of His Church, in a chaste and a virginal priesthood ; 
in the foundations of society, in a chaste and pure manhood, 
preserving the integrity of the soul in the purity of the body. 
Such virtue belonged to John, " the Disciple of love f and 
it belonged to him in its highest phase; for, as the Holy 
Fathers, — and the interpreters of the Church's traditions from 
the very beginning, and notably, St. Peter Damascus, tell 
us, — John the Evangelist was a virgin from the cradle to 
the grave. Xo thought of human love ever flashed through 
his mind. No angry uprising of human passion ever dis- 
turbed the equable nature of his heavenly-tempered soul and 
body. He was the youngest of all the Apostles ; and he 
was little more than a youth when the virgin-creating eyes 
of Christ fell upon him. Christ looked upon him, and saw 
a virginal body, fair and beautiful in its translucent purity 
of innocence. He, the Creator and Redeemer, saw a soul 
pure, and bright, and unstained, — a soul just opening into 
manhood, and in the full possession of all its powers, and a 
tender, yet a most pure heart, unfolding itself. Even as the 
lily bursts forth and unfolds its white leaves to gather in 
its calyx the dews of Heaven, like diamond drops in its 
heart of glorious innocence, — so did our Lord behold the 
fair soul of John. In his earliest youth, the words of in- 
vitation dropped in that virgin ear : and in that virgin soul 
those graces of apostleship, of love, of tenderness, and of 
strength, that lay there, among these petals of glory, brought 
forth, in the soul of the young man, all that was radiant with 
the most Christ-like virtue. A virgin — that is to say, one 
who never let a thought of his mind, nor an affection of his 
heart stray from the highest form of divine love, — thus was 
he before he had beheld the face of his Redeemer. But 
when, to that virginal purity, which naturally seeks the 
love of God in its highest .form, that God made Himself 
visible to it in the shape of the sacred humanity of our Lord : 
when the virgin's King, the Prince, and the leader of the 
virgin's choir in Heaven, presented Himself to the eyes of 



ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



77 



the young Apostle 5 — oh, then, with the instinct of purity, 
his heart seemed to go forth from him, and to seek the heart 
of Christ. And so it was for three years, under the purifying 
eyes of our Lord, He lived for three years, in tte most 
intimate communion of love with his Master ; distinguished 
from all the other Apostles, of whom we do not know that 
any one of them was a virgin, but only John ; distinguished 
from them, by being admitted, through his privileged, 
virginal purity, into the inner chambers of the heart of 
Christ. Thus, when our Lord appeared to the Apostles 
upon the waters, all the others shrank from Him, terrified ; 
and they said to each other, " It is a ghost ! It is an 
appearance ! 77 John looked, and instantly recognized his 
Master; and said to Peter ; " Do not be afraid ! It is the 
Lord." Whereupon, St. Jerome says : — " What eyes were 
those of John, that could see that which others could not 
see ? Oh, it was the eye of a virgin recognizing a virgin ! 77 
So it was that a certain, tacit privilege was granted to John, 
as is seen in the conduct of the Apostles themselves. Peter, 
certainly, was honored above all the others by getting prece- 
dence and supremacy ; by being appointed the Vicar and 
Representative of his Master ; in other words, " the Head 
of the Apostles." But this was preceded by the severest 
tests. He was tried, — nay more, the heart of Peter was 
sounded to the very depths of its capacity and of its love, 
before Christ, our Lord, appointed him as His representative. 
Three times did he ask him, " Simon, son of John, lovest 
thou Me ? " Again in the presence of John, " Lovest thou 
Me, Peter, more than these V 7 "More than these; more 
than the men who are present before Me, and of whom I 
speak to you." And Peter was confirmed in that hour, and 
rose, by divine grace, to a height in the sight of his Divine 
Master, greater than any ever attained by man. It is not 
the heart of the man loving the Lord ; but it is the heart of 
the Lord loving the man. So, Peter was called upon to 
love his Lord more than the others 5 but the tenderest love 
of his Divine Master was the. privilege of John. He was 
" the disciple whom Jesus loved." Aud well did his fellow- 
Apostles know it. What a privilege was not that which 
was given to John at the Last Supper, because of his 
virginal purity ! There was the Master, and there were 
the disciples around Him. There was the man whom 



78 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



he destined to be the first Pope, — the representative of 
His power and the head of His followers. Did Peter 
get the first place $ No. The first place, — the place next 
to the left side, — nearest the dear heart-side ; — was the 
privilege of John. And, — oh ! ineffable dignity vouch- 
safed by our Saviour to His virgin friend ! — the head of the 
Disciple was laid upon the breast of the Master ! and the 
human ear of John heard the pulsations of the virginal heart 
of Christ, the Lord of earth and Heaven ! Between those 
two, in life, you may easily see in this and other such traits 
recorded in the Gospel, — between these two — the Master and 
the " disciple whom He loved/' — there was a silent inter- 
communion — an intensity of tender love of which the other 
Apostles seem not to have known. Out of this very purity of 
John sprang the love of his Divine Lord and Master. It 
was after His resurrection that our Lord asked Peter, " Dost 
thou love Me more than these J ? ;; Before the suffering and 
death of the Son of God, Peter only loved Him as a man. 
John's love knew no change. Peter's love had first to be 
humbled, and then purified by tears, and the heart broken 
by contrition before he was able to assert : " Lord, Thou 
knowest all things : Thou knowest that I love Thee ! n 
But, in the love of St. John, we find an undoubting, an 
unchanging love. What his Master was to him in the hour 
of His glory, the same was He in the hour of His shame. 
He beheld his Lord, shining on the summit of Tabor, on the 
day of His Transfiguration ; yet he loved Him as dearly 
when he beheld Him covered with shame and confusion on 
the Cross. What was the nature of that love? Oh, my 
friends, think what was the nature of that love ! It had 
taken possession of a mighty but an empty heart. Mighty 
in its capacity of love is the heart of man — the heart of the 
young man — the heart of the ingenuous, talented, and enlight- 
ened youth. Would you know of how much love this heart 
is capable ? Behold it in the Saints of the Catholic Church. 
Behold it in every man who gives his heart to God wholly 
and entirely. Behold it even in the "sacrifices that young 
hearts make, when they are filled with merely human love. 
Behold it in the sacrifice of life, of health, of every thing 
which a man has, which is made upon the altar of his love, 
even when that human love has taken the base, revolting 
form of impurity. Look at it. Measure it, if you can. I 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



79 



address the heart of the young man, and he cannot see it ! 
The truth lies here, that the most licentious and self-indulgent 
sinner on the earth has never yet known, in the indulgence of 
his wildest excesses, the full contentment, the complete enjoy- 
ment, the mighty faculty of love which is in the human heart. 

Such was the heart which our Lord, called to him. Such 
was the heart of John. It was a capacious heart. It was 
the heart of a young man. It was empty. • No human love 
was there. No previous affection came in to cross or 
counteract the designs of God in the least degree, or to take 
possession of even the remotest corner of that heart. Then, 
finding it thus empty in its purity, thus capacious in its 
nature, the Son of God filled the heart of the young Apostle 
with His love. Oh, it was the rarest, the grandest friendship 
that ever existed on this earth : the friendship that bound to- 
gether two virgin hearts — the heart of the beloved disciple, 
J ohn ; the grand virgin love which absorbed John's affec- 
tions, filling his young heart and intellect with the beauty 
and the highest appreciation of his Lord and Master, filling 
his senses with the charms ineffable produced by the sight of 
the face of the Holy One. He looked upon the beauty of that 
sacred and Divine humanity ; and he saw, with the penetrat- 
ing eyes of the intellect, the fulness of the Divinity that 
flashed upon him. He, at least, had listened to the voice oi 
the Divine Master, and sweeter it was than the music which 
he heard in Heaven, and which he describes in the Apocalypse, 
where he says : "I heard the sound of many voices, and 
the harpers harping upon many harps." Far sweeter than 
the echoes of Heaven that descended into his soul on the 
Isle of Patmos, was the noble, manly voice of his Lord and 
Master, — now pouring forth blessings upon the poor, — now 
telling those who weep that they shall one day be comforted, — 
now whispering to the widow of Nairn, u Weep no more 5 n 
now telling the penitent Magdalen, " Thy sins are forgiven 
thee because thou hast loved much 5 " — now, thundering in 
the temple of Jerusalem until the very stones resounded to 
the God-like manifestation of Him who said : " It is written 
that My house is a house of prayer ; but you have made it a 
den of thieves 5 77 — it was still the loftiest music and melody 
— the harmonious roll of the voice of God — as it fell upon the 
charmed ears of the enraptured Evangelist, — the young man 
who followed his Master and fed his soul upon that divine love. 



80 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Out of this love sprang that inseparable fellowship that 
bound him to Christ. Not for an instant -was he voluntarily 
absent from his Master's side. Not for an instant did he 
separate himself from the immediate society of his Lord. 
And herein lay the secret of his love • — for love, be it human 
or divine, craves for union, and lives in the sight and in the 
conversation of the object of its affection. Consequently, of 
all the Apostles,- John was the one who was always clinging 
around his Master — always trying to be near Him — always 
trying to catch the loving eyes of Christ in every glance. 
This was the light of his brightness, — the divine wisdom that 
animated him ! 

How distinct is the action of J ohn,— in the hour of the 
Passion, — from that of Peter ! Our Divine Lord gave warn- 
ing to Peter. " Peter," He said, " before the cock crows 
you will deny me thrice." No wonder the" Master's voice 
struck terror into the heart of the Apostle ! And yet, strange 
to say, it did not make him cautious or prudent. When our 
Lord was taken prisoner, the Evangelist expressly tells us 
that Peter followed Him. Followed Him ? Indeed, he fol- 
lowed Him -j but he followed Him "afar' off." He waited on 
the outskirts of the crowd. He tried to hide himself in the 
darkness of the night. He tried to conceal his features, lest 
any man might lay hold of him, and make him a prisoner, as 
the friend of the Redeemer. He began to be afraid of the 
danger of acknowledging himself to be the servant of such a 
master. He began to think of himself, when every thought 
of his mind, and every energy of his heart should have been 
concentrated upon his Lord. He followed Him • but at some 
distance. . Ah ! at a good distance ! John, on the other hand, 
rushed to the front. John wanted to be seen with his Master, 
John wanted to take the Master's hand, — even when bound 
by the thongs, — that he might receive the vivifying touch 
of contact with Christ ! John wanted to hear every word 
that might be said, whether it were for or against Him. 
John wanted to feast his eyes upon every object which en- 
gaged the attention of his Lord, and by whose look it was 
irradiated a type, indeed, of a class of Christian men, seek- 
ing the society and the presence of their Master, and strength- 
ened by that seeking and that presence. He is the type of 
the man who goes frequently to holy communion, preparing 
himself by a, good confession, and so laying the basis of a 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



81 



sacramental union with God, that becomes a large element 
of his life ; — the man who goes to the altar every month • — 
the man who is familiar with Christ, and who enters some- 
what into the inner chambers of that Sacred Heart of infinite 
love ; — the man who knows what those few minutes of rap- 
ture are which are reserved for the pure, — for those who not 
only endeavor to serve God, but to serve Him lovingly and 
well. Those are the men who walk in the footsteps of John ; 
those are his representatives. Peter is represented by the 
man who goes to holy communion once or twice in the year,- 
— going perhaps, once at Easter or Christmas, and then 
returning to the world again. God grant that neither 
the world, nor the flesh, nor the devil will take posses- 
sion of the days, or weeks, or years of the rest of his life ! 
— he who gives, — twice in the year, perhaps, — an hour or 
two to earnest communion with God, and, for all the rest, 
only a passing consideration, flashing momentarily across the 
current of his life. And what was the consequence ? J ohn 
went up to Calvary, and took the proudest place that ever 
was given to man. Peter met, in the outer hall, a little ser- 
vant-maid ; and she said to him : " Whom seekest thou J ? — <• 
Jesus of Nazareth ? ?; The moment that the child's voice 
fell upon his ear, he denied his Master, and he swore an oath 
that he did not know Him. 

Now, we come to the third grand attribute of John j and 
it is to this, my friends, that I would call your attention 
especially. Tender as the love of this man was for his Mas- 
ter — his friend, — mark how strong and how manly it was at 
the same time. He does not stand aside. He will allow no 
soldier, or guard, or executioner, to thrust him aside or put 
him away from his Master. He stands by that Master's side, 
when he stood before His accusers in the Praetorium of Pilate. 
Christ comes out. John receives Him into his arms, when, 
fainting with loss of blood, He returns, surrounded by sol- 
diers, from the terrific scene of His scourging. And, when 
the cross is laid upon the shoulders of the Redeemer, — with 
the crowd of citizens around him, — at His right hand, so close 
that He might lean upon him if He would, — is the manly form 
of St. John the Evangelist. Oh, think of the love that was 
in his heart, and the depth of his sorrow, when he saw his 
Lord, his Master, his Friend, his only love, reduced to so 
terrible a state of woe, of misery, and of weakness ! This 



83 



FATHER BUKKE'S DISCOURSES. 



was tlie condition of our Divine Lord, when they laid the 
heavy cross upon His shoulder. How the Apostle of Love 
would have taken that painful and terrible crown, with its 
thorns, from off the brows to which it adhered, and set the 
thorns upon his own head, if they had only been satisfied to 
let him bear the pains and. sufferings of his Master and his 
God ! Oh, how anxious must he have been to take the load 
that was placed upon the unwilling shoulders of Simon of 
Cyrene ! Oh, how he must have envied the man who lifted 
the cross from off the bleeding shoulders of the Divine Vic- 
tim, and set it on his own strong shoulders, and bore 
it along up the steep side of Calvary ! With what 
gratitude must the Apostle have looked upon the face 
of Veronica, who, with eyes streaming with tears, and on 
bended knees, upheld the cloth on which the Saviour im- 
printed the marks of His divine countenance ! Yet, who 
was this man ? — who was this man, who received the blow as 
the criminal who was about to be executed ? Who is this 
man who takes the place of shame ? Who is this man who 
is willing to assume all the opprobrium and all the penalty 
that follows upon it ? He is the only one of the Twelve Apo- 
stles that is publicly known. We read in the Gospel that the 
Apostles were all humble men, — poor men, taken out of the 
crowd by our Lord. The only one among them who had 
made some mark, who was noted, who was remembered for 
something or another, was St. John. And by whom was he 
known? He was known, — says the Evangelist, — he was 
known to the High Priest. He was so well known to him, and 
to the guards and to the officers, and to the priests, that, when 
our Lord was in the house of Annas, John entered as a matter 
of course 5 and when Peter, with the rest, was shut out, all 
that John had to do was to speak a word to the officers : — 
because, says the Evangelist, ''he was well-known to the 
High Priest " — well-known to the chief magistrates — well- 
know to the men in power — well known to the chief senators. 
" Oh, John ! John ! be prudent ! Remember that you are a 
noted man, so that you will be set down by the men in 
power, for shame perhaps, or indignity, or even death. 
Consult your own interests. Do not be rash. There is no 
knowing when your aid or your authority may be wanted." 
TLis is the lan^ua^e of the world. This is the lano*uao*e 
which we hear day after da v. " Prudence and caution ! " 



ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



83 



il No necessity to parade our religion ! 77 u No necessity to be 
thrusting our Catholicity before the world ! 77 u No necessity 
to be constantly unfurling the banner on which the Cross of 
Christ is depicted — the Cross on which He died to save the 
souls of men." " No necessity for all this. Let us go peace- 
fully with the world ! Let us worship in secret. Let us go 
quietly on Sunday, to divine service ; and let the world know 
nothing about it ! 77 This is self-love ! This is cowardice ! 
Oh, how noble the answer of him whom all the world knew ! 
How noble the soul of him who stood by his Lord, when he 
knew that he was a noted man, and that, sooner or later, his 
fidelity, on that Good Friday morning, would bring him into 
trouble ! How glorious the action of the man who knew he was 
compromising himself ! — that he was placing his character, his 
liberty, his very life in jeopardy! — that he was suffering, per- 
haps, in the tenderest intimacy and friendship ! — that he was 
losing himself, perhaps, in the esteem of those worldly men 
who thought they were doing a wise, a proper, and a prudent 
thing when they sent the Lord to be crucified. John stands 
by his Master. He says, in the face of the whole world : 
" Whoever is His enem3 T , I -am His friend. Whatever is 
His position to-day, I am His creature : and I recognize 
Him as my God ! 77 

And so he trod, step by step, with the fainting Redeemer, 
up the rugged sides of Calvary. We know not what words 
of love and of strong, manly sympathy he may have poured 
into the afflicted ear of the Redeemer. We know not how 
much the drooping humanity of our Lord may have been 
strengthened and cheered in that sad hour by the presence 
of the faithful and loving John ! Have you ever been in 
great affliction, my friends 1 Has sorrow ever come upon 
3^ou with a crushing and an overwhelming weight ? Have you 
ever lacked heart and power in great difficulty, and seen no 
escape from the crushing weight of anxiety that was breaking 
your heart ¥ Do you not remember that such has been the 
daily experience of your life ? Do you not know what it is 
to have even one friend — one friend on whom you can rely 
with perfect and implicit confidence — one friend who, you 
know, believes in you and loves you, and whose love is as 
strong as his life? — one friend who, you know, will uphold you 
even though the whole world be against you ? Such was the 
comfort, such was the consolation that it was the Evangelist's 



84 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



privilege to pay to our Lord on Calvary. N o human 
prudence or argument dissuaded him. He thought, — and he 
thought rightly, — that it was the supreme of wisdom to defy, to 
despise, and to trample upon the world, when that world was 
crucifying his Lord and Master. Highest type of the man, 
saying, from out the depths of his own conscience, " I am 
above the world ! " Let every man ask himself- this night, 
and answer the question to his own soul : ".Do I imitate the 
purity, do I imitate the love, do I imitate the courage or the 
bravery of this man, of whom it is said that he was 1 the 
disciple whom Jesus loved ? ' " He got this reward, exceed- 
ing great. Ah, how little did he know — great as was his 
Love — how little did he know the gift that was in store for 
him — and that should be given him through the blood that 
flowed from that dying Lord ! Little did he know of the 
crowning glory that was reserved to him at the foot of the 
Cross ! How his heart must have throbbed with the liveliest 
emotions of delight, mingled in stormy confusion with the 
greatness of his sorrow, when, from the lips of his dying 
Master, he received the command : " Son, behold thy Mother ! n 
— and, with eyes dimmed witk the tears of anguish and of 
love, did he cast his most pure, most loving, and most 
reverential glance upon the forlorn Mother of the dying Son ! 
What was his ecstasy when he heard the voice of the dying 
Master say to Mary : "0 Mother, look to John, My 
brother, My lover, My friend ! Take him for thy son ! n 
To John he says : " Son, I am going away. I am leaving 
this woman, the most desolate of all creatures that ever 
walked the earth. True, she is to me the dearest object in 
Heaven or on earth. Friend, I have nothing that I love so 
much ! Friend, there is no one for whom I have so much 
love as I have for her ! And to you do I leave her ! Take 
her as your mother, dearly beloved ! " John advances 
one step, — the type and the prototype of the new man, 
redeemed by our Lord j — the type of the man whose glory it 
was to be that he was Mary's son — he advances a 
step, until he comes right in front of his dying and blessed 
Lord. John advances one step, — the type — the prototype 
of the new man, redeemed by the Saviour, — and whose glory 
it was henceforth to be that he was to be Mary's son. He 
advances a step, until he comes right in front of his dying 
Lord ; and he approaches Mary, the Mother, in the midst of 



ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST 



85 



her sorrow, and flings himself into her loving arms. And 
the newly -found son embraces his heavenly Mother, while, 
from the crucified Lord, the drops of blood fall down upon 
them and cement the union between our human nature and 
His, and fulfil the promise He had made to His Heavenly 
Father in the adoption of our humanity. 

The scene at Calvary I will not touch upon, or describe. 
The slowly passing minutes, of pain, of anguish, and 
of agony that stretched out these three terrible hours of 
incessant suffering ; — of these I will not speak. In your 
estimation and in mine they do not need to be spoken of. 
But, when the scene was over ; — when the Lord of glory 
and of love sent forth His last cry ) — when the terrified heart 
of the Virgin throbbed with alarm as she saw the Centurion 
draw back his terrible lance and thrust it through the side of 
our Divine Lord; — when all this was over, and when our 
Lord was taken down from the Cross and His body placed in 
Mary's arms ; — after she had washed away the stains with 
her tears, and purified His face ; — after she had taken off the 
crown of thorns from His brow, and when they had laid Him 
in the tomb — the desolate Mother put her hands into those 
of her newly-found child, St. John, and with him "returned 
to Jerusalem. The glorious title of " The Child of Mary " 
was now his ; and with this precious gift of the dying 
Redeemer he rejoiced in Mary's society and in Mary's care. 
The Virgin was then, according to tradition, in her forty- 
ninth year. During the twelve years that she survived with 
John, she was mostly in Jerusalem, while ho preached in 
Ephesus, one of the cities of Asia Minor, and founded there 
a church, and held the chair as its first Apostle and Bishop. 
He founded a church at Philippi, and a church at Thessalonica, 
and many of the churches in Asia Minor. His whole life, for 
seventy years after the death of his divine Lord, was spent in 
the propagation of the Gospel and in the establishing of the 
Church. But, for twelve years of it, the Virgin Mother was 
with him, in his house, tenderly surrounding him with every 
comfort that her care could supply. Oh, think of the rap- 
tures of this household that we read of so much ! Every 
glance of her virginal eyes upon him reminded her of Him 
who was gone, — for John was like his Divine Master. It 
was that wonderful resemblance to Christ which the highest 
form of grace brings out in the soul. Picture to. yourselves, 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



if you can, that life at Ephesus, when the Apostle, worn down 
by his apostolic preaching, — fatigued and wearied from his 
constantly proclaiming the victory and the loye of the Re- 
deemer, — returned to the house and sat down, while Mary, 
with her tender hand, wiped the sweat from his brow, and 
these two, sitting together, spoke of the Lord, and of the 
mysteries of the life in Nazareth ; and from Mary's lips he 
heard of the mysteries of the thirty years of love in the hum- 
ble house of Nazareth; and of how Joseph had died, she hold- 
ing his head, and the Son of God standing by his side. From 
Mary's lips he heard the secrets — the wonderful secrets — of 
her Divine Son; — until, filled with inspiration, and rising to 
the highest and most glorious heights of divinely-inspired 
thought, he proclaimed the Gospel that begins with the won- 
derful words, " In the beginning was the Word," denoting 
and pointing back to the eternity of the Son of God. Pic- 
ture to yourselves, if you can, how Mary poured out to John, 
years after the death of our Lord, her words of gratitude for 
the care with which he surrounded her, and of her gratitude 
to him for all that he had done in consoling and upholding 
her Divine Child in the hour of His sorrow! Oh, this sur- 
passes all contemplation ! Next to that mystery of Divine 
Love*, the life in Nazareth with her own Child, comes near- 
est the life she lived in Ephesus with her second, her adopted 
son, St. John the Evangelist. 

He passed to Heaven, — first among the virgins, says St. 
Peter Damian, — first in glory as first in love, enshrined to- 
day in the brightest light that surrounds the virgin choirs of 
Heaven ! Now, now he sings the songs of angelic joy and 
angelic love ; — and he leaves to you and to me, — as he stands, 
and as we contemplate him upon the Hill of Calvary, — the 
grand and the instructive lesson of how the Christian man 
is to behave towards his Lord and his God ; living in Chris- 
tian purity, — in the Christ-given strength of divine love, — and 
in that glorious, world-despising assertion of the divinity and 
of the love of Christ, which, trampling under foot all mere 
human respect, lives and glories in the friendship of God and 
in the possession of His holy faith and the practice of His holy 
religion ; — not blushing for Him before man ; and thus gain- 
ing the reward of Him who says : "And he that confesses 
Me before men, the same will I confess before My Father in 
Heaven." 



CHRIST ON CALVARY. 



\_A Sermon delivered by the Very Rev. T. N. Bwke, O.P., in the 
Dominican Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, on Good- 
Friday, March 29, 1872.] 

"All you that pass this way, come and see if there be any sorrow 
like unto my sorrow." 

Deaelt Beloved Brethren : These words are found 
in the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah. There was a 
festival ordained by the Almighty God, for the tenth day of 
the seventh month of the Jewish year ; and this festival was 
called the "Day of Atonement." Now, among the command- 
ments that the Almighty God gave concerning the "Day of 
Atonement/ 7 there was this remarkable one : " Every soul, 77 
said the Lord, "that shall not be afflicted on that day, 
shall perish from out the land. 77 The commandment that 
He gave them was a commandment of sorrow, because it was 
the day of the atonement. The day of. the Christian atone- 
ment is come, — the day of the mighty sacrifice by which the 
world was redeemed. And if, at other seasons, we are told 
to rejoice, — in the words of the Scripture — " Rejoice in the 
Lord ; I say to you again, rejoice, 77 — to-day, with our holy 
mother, the Church, we must put off the garments of joy, and 
clothe ourselves in the raiment of sorrow. If, at other 
times, we are told to be glad in the Lord, — according to the 
words of Scripture, " Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, 77 — to- 
day the command is that every soul shall be afflicted ) and 
the soul that is not afflicted shall perish. 

And now, before we enter upon the consideration of 
the terrible sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, — all that 
He endured for our salvation, — it is necessary, my dearly 
beloved brethren, that we should, turn our thoughts to the 
Victim, whom we contemplate this night dying for our sins. 
That Victim was our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son' 
of God. When the Almighty God, after the first two thou- 
sand years of the world's history, resolved to destroy the 
whole race of mankind, on account of their sins, He flooded 



88 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the earth ; and, in that universal ruin, He wiped out the sin 
by destroying the sinners. Now, in that early hour of God's 
first terrible visitation, the water that overwhelmed the whole 
world, and destroyed all mankind, came from three sources. 
First of all, we are told, that God, with his own hand, drew 
back the bolts of Heaven, and rained down water from 
Heaven upon the earth. Secondly, we are told that all the 
secret springs and fountains that were in the bosom of the 
earth itself, burst and came forth : — " The fountains of the 
great abyss burst forth," says Holy Writ. Thirdly, we are 
told that the great ocean itself overflowed its shores and its 
banks ) 66 and the sea uprose, until the waters covered the 
mountain tops." Thus, dearly beloved brethren, in the 
inundation, the flood of suffering and sorrow that came upon 
the Son of God made man, we find that the flood burst 
forth from three distinct sources. First of all, from Heaven, — 
the Eternal Father sending down the merciless hand of justice 
to strike His own Divine Son. Secondly, from Christ our 
Lord himself. As from the hidden fountains of the earth 
sending forth their springs 5 so, from amid the very heart 
and soul of Jesus Christ, — from the very nature of His being, 
— do we gather the greatness of His suffering. Thirdly, 
from the sea rising, — that is to say, from the malice and 
wickedness of man. Behold, then, the three several sources 
of all the sufferings that we are about to contemplate. A 
just and angry God in Heaven • a most pure, and holy, and 
loving Man-God upon earth, having to endure all that hell 
could produce of most wicked and most demoniac rage against 
Him. God's justice rose up, — for, remember, God was angry 
on this Good-Friday ; — the Eternal Father rose up in 
Heaven, in all His power ; — He rose up in all His justice. 
Before Him was a Victim for all the sins that ever had 
been committed ; before Him was the Victim of a fallen 
race ; before Him, in the very person of Jesus Christ 
himself, were represented the accumulated sins of all the 
race of mankind. Hitherto, we read in the Gospel, that, 
when the Father from heaven looked down upon His own 
Divine Child upon the earth, He was accustomed to send 
forth His voice in such language as this : — " This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Hitherto, no sin, 
no deformity, no vileness was there, but the beauty of Heaven 
itself in that fairest form of human body, — in that beautiful 



CHRIST ON CALVARY. 



89 



soul, and in the fulness of the divinity that dwelt in Jesus 
Christ. Well might the Father exclaim- — " This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased ! " But, to-day, — 
oh, to-day ! — the sight of the beloved Son excites no pleasure 
in the Father's eyes, — brings forth no word of consolation or 
of love from the Father's lips. And why ? Because the 
all-holy and all-beloved Son of God, on this Good-Friday, 
took upon Him the garment of our sins, — of all that His 
Father detested upon this earth ] all that ever raised the 
quick anger of the Eternal God ) all that ever made Him put 
forth His arm, strong in judgment and in vengeance : — all 
this is concentrated upon the sacred person of Him who "be- 
came the Victim for the sins of men." How fair He seems to 
us, when we look up to that beautiful figure of Jesus ! — how 
fair He seemed to His Virgin Mother, even when no beauty or 
comeliness was left in Him ! — how fair He seemed to the Mag- 
dalen, again, who saw Him robed in His own crimson blood! 
The Father in Heaven saw no beauty, no fairness, in His 
Divine Son in that hour. He only saw, in Him and on Him, 
all the sins of mankind, which He took upon Himself that 
He might become for us a Saviour. Picture to yourselves, 
therefore, first, this mighty fountain of divine wrath that was 
poured out upon the Lord. It was the Father's hand, — the 
hand of the Father's justice,— outstretched to assert His 
rights, to restore to Himself the honor and the glory of 
which the sins of all men, in all ages, in all climes, had 
deprived Him ! Picture to yourselves that terrible hand of 
God drawing back the bolts of Heaven, and letting out on 
His own divine Son the fury of this wrath that was pent up 
for four thousand years ! We stand stricken with fear in the 
contemplation of the anger of God, in the first great punish- 
ment of sin ? the Universal Deluge. And all the sins that 
in every age roused the -Father's anger were actually visible 
to the Father's eyes on the person of His Divine Son. We 
stand astonished and frightened when we see, with the eyes 
of faith and of revelation, the living fire descending from 
Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrha, — the balls of fire float- 
ing in the air, thick as the descending flakes in the snow- 
storm ; — the hissing of the flames as they came rushing down 
from Heaven, like the hail that comes down in the hail- 
storm j the roaring of these flames as they filled the 
atmosphere ) — their terrible, lurid light ) — the shrieks of the 



90 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



people, who are being burned up alive ; — the lowing of the 
tortured beasts in the fields ; — the birds of the air falling, 
and sending forth their plaintive voices, as they drop to 
earth, then plumage scorched and burned ! All the sins that 
Almighty God, in heaven, saw in that hour of His wrath, 
when he rained down fire, — all these did He see, on that 
Good-Friday morning, upon His own Divine Son. All 
the sins that ever man committed were upon Him, in the 
horn of His humiliation and of His agony, because He was 
truly man ; because He was a voluntary victim for our sins ,• 
because He stepped in between our nature, that was to be 
destroyed, and the avenging hand of the Father lifted for our 
destruction : and these sins upon Him became an argument 
to make the Almighty God in Heaven forget, in that hour, 
every attribute of His mercy, and put forth against His son 
all the omnipotence of His justice. Consider it well ; let it 
enter into your minds ; — the strokes of the Divine vengeance 
that would have ruined you and me, and sunk us into hell 
for all eternity, w r ere rained by the unsparing hand of 
Omnipotence, in that horn, upon our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The second fountain and source from which came forth the 
deluge of His sorrow and His suffering was His own divine 
heart, and His own immaculate nature. For, remember that 
He was as truly man as He was God. From the moment Mary 
received the Eternal Word into her womb, from that moment 
Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was as truly 
man as He was God ; and, in that hour of His incarnation, a 
human body and a human soul were created for Him. Now, 
first of all, that human soul that He took was the purest and 
most perfect that God could make, — perfect in every natural 
perfection ; — in the quickness and comprehensiveness of its 
intelligence ; — in the large capacity for love in its human 
heart ; in the great depth of its generosity and exalted human 
spirit. Nay more, the very body in which that blessed soul 
was enshrined was so formed, that it was the most perfect 
body that was ever given to man. Now, the perfection of 
the body in man lies in a delicate organization, — in the ex- 
treme delicacy of fibre, muscle, and nerve ; because they 
make it a fitting instrument in order that the soul within 
may inspire it. The more perfect, therefore, the human being 
is, the more sensitive is he to shame, the more deeply does he 
feel degradation, the more quickly do dishonor and humilia- 



CHRIST ON CALVARY 



91 



tion, like a two-edged sword, pierce trie spirit. Nay, trie 
more sensitive lie is to pain, the more does he shrink away 
naturally from that which causes pain ; and that which would 
be merely pain to a grosser organization, is actual agony, is 
actual torment to the perfect man, formed with such a soul 
that, at the very touch of his body the sensitive soul is made 
cognizant of pleasure and of pain, of joy and of sorrow. What 
follows from this ? St. Bonaventure, in his " Life of Christ/ 7 
tells us that so delicate was the sacred and most perfect body 
of Our Lord that even the palm of His hand, or the sole of His 
foot, was more sensitive than the inner pupil of the eye of any 
ordinary man ; that even the least touch caused him pain ,• 
that every ruder air that visited that Divine face brought to 
Him a sense of exquisite pain that ordinary men could scarcely 
experience. Add to this, that in Him was the fulness of 
the God-head, realizing all that was beautiful on earth 5 re- 
alizing with infinite capacity the enormity of sin 5 realizing 
every evil that ever fell upon nature in making it accessible 
to sin 5 and above all, taking in, to the full extent of its eter- 
nal duration, the curse, the reprobation, the damnation that 
falls upon the wicked. Oh, how many sources of sorrow are 
here ! Here is the heart of the man — Jesus Christ : — here 
is the fulness of the infinite sanctity of God, — here, the infi- 
nite horror that God has for sin. For this man is God! 
Here, therefore, is at once the indignation, the infinite repug- 
nance, the actual sense of horror and detestation wdiich, 
amounting to an infinite, passionate repugnance, absorbed 
the whole nature of Jesus Christ in one act of violence against 
that which is come upon Him. Now, every single sin com- 
mitted in this world comes, and actually effects, as it were, its 
lodgment in the soul and spirit of Jesus. At other times he 
may re«t ; as He did rest, in the Virgin's arms ; — for she was 
sinless • at other times He may allow sin and the sinner to 
come to His feet and touch Him 5 but, by that very touch, 
that - sinner was made as pure as an angel of God. But to-day 
this infinitely holy heart, — this infinitely tender heart must 
opeu itself to receive, — no longer simply to purify, but to 
assume and atone for, — all the sins of the world. 

The third great source of His suffering was the rage and 
the malice of men. They tore that sacred body ; they forgot 
every instinct of humanity 5 they forgot every dictate, every 
ordinance of the old law, to lend to their outrages all the fury 



92 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



of hell, when they fell upon him, as the Scripture says, 
" Like hungry dogs of chase upon their prey." He is now 
approaching the last sad day of His existence ; He is now 
about to close His life in sufferings which I shall endea- 
vor to put before you. But remember that this Good- 
Friday, with all its terrors, is but the end of a life of thirty- 
three years of agony and of suffering ! From the moment 
when the Word was made flesh in Mary's womb, — from the 
moment when the Eternal God became man, — even before 
He was bom, — the cross, the thorny crown, and all the hor- 
rors that were accomplished on Calvary were steadily before 
the eyes of Jesus. The Infant in Bethlehem saw them j the 
Child in Nazareth saw them; the Young Man, toiling to 
support his mother, saw them 5 the Preacher on the moun- 
tain side beheld them. Never, for a single instant, were the 
horrors that were fulfilled on Good-Friday morning absent 
from the mind or the contemplation of Jesus Christ. Oh, 
dearly beloved brethren, well did the Psalmist say of Him, 
" My grief, my sorrow is always before me ; " well the 
Psalmist said, "I have, during my w T hole life, walked in 
sorrow ! I was scourged the whole day ! " That day was 
the thirty-three years of His mortal life. Picture to your- 
selves w^hat that life of grief must have been. There w r as 
the Almighty God in the midst of men, hearing their blas- 
phemies, beholding then infamous actions, fixing His all-pure 
and all-holy eyes on their licentiousness, then ambition, their 
avarice, their dishonesty, then impurity. And, so, the very 
presence of those He came to redeem w T as a constant source 
of grief to Jesus Christ. Moreover, He knew well that He 
came into the world to suffer, and only to suffer. Every 
other being created into this world was created for some joy 
or other. There is not, even in hell, a creature whom 
Almighty God intended, in creating, for a life and eternity 
of misery 5 if they are there, they are there by their own act, 
not by the act of God. Not so with Christ. His sacred 
body was formed for the express and sole purpose that it 
might be the victim for the sins of man, and the sacrifice for 
the world's redemption. " Sacrifice and oblation," He said, 
" Thou wouldst not, God ; but Thou hast prepared a body 
for me." " Coming into the world," says St. Paul, " He 
proclaimed, ' for this I am come, that I may do Thy will, 
Father.' " The Father's will was that He should suffer 3 and 



CHRIST ON CALVARY. 



93 



for this was He created. Therefore, as He was made for 
suffering, — as that body was given to Him for no purpose of 
joy, but only of suffering, of expiation, and of sorrow, — there- 
fore it was that God made him capable of a sorrow equal to 
the remission He was about to grant. That was infinite 
sorrow. 

And now, dearly beloved, having considered these things, 
we come to contemplate that which was always before the 
mind of Christ, — that from which He knew there was no 
escape, — that which was before Him really, not as the future 
is before us, when we anticipate it and fear it, but which 
still comes indistinctly and confusedly before the mind. 
Not so with Christ. Every single detail of His Passion, 
every sorrow that was to fall upon Him, every indignity that 
was to be put upon His body, — all, in the full clearness of 
their details, were before the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ 
for the thirty-three years of His life. 

As the sun was sloping down towards the western horizon 
on the evening of the vigil of the Pasch, behold our Divine 
Lord with His Apostles around- Him : and there, seated in 
the midst of them, he fulfilled the last precept of the law, in 
eating the Paschal lamb ; and He then changed the bread 
and wine into his own Body and Blood, and fed His Apostles 
with that of which the Paschal lamb was but a figure and a 
promise. Now they are about to separate in this world. 
Now, the greatest act of the charity of God has been per- 
formed. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is living and palpita- 
ing in the heart of each and every one of these • twelve. 
Now, — horror of horrors ! — He is gone into the heart of 
Judas ! Arising from the tables our Lord took with Him 
Peter, and James, and John; and He turned calmly and 
deliberately to enter the red sea of His Passion, and to wade 
through His own blood, until He landed upon the opposite 
shore of pardon, and mercy, and grace, and brought with 
Him, in His own sacred humanity, the whole human race. 
Calmly, deliberately, taking his three friends with Him, He 
went out from the supper-hall, as the shades of evening were 
deepening into night 5 and He walked outside the walls of 
Jerusalem, where there was a garden full of olive trees, that 
was called Gethsemane. The Lord Jesus was accustomed to 
go there to pray. Many an evening had He knelt within 
those groves ; many a night had He spent under the shade 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



of these trees, filling the silent place with the voice of His 
cries and petitions, before the Lord, His Father, to obtain 
pardon and mercy for mankind. Now, He goes there for the 
last time 5 and as He is approaching, — as soon as ever He 
catches sight of the garden,- — as soon as the familiar olives 
present themselves to His eyes, He sees — what Peter, and 
James, and J ohn did not see, — He sees there, in that dark 
garden, the mighty array — the mighty, tremendous array 
— of all the sins that were ever committed in this world, 
as if they had taken the bodily form of demons of hell. 
There they were now — waiting silently, fearfully, with eyes 
glaring with infernal rage ! And he saw them. And 
was He, the Lord God, to go among them ! Among them 
must He go ! No w r onder that the moment He caught sight 
of. that garden He started back, and turning to the three 
Apostles, He said : " Stand by Me now, for My soul is sor- 
rowful unto death." And, leaning upon the virgin bosom of 
John, who w T as astonished at this fearful trial of his Master, 
He mmmured unto him : " My soul is sorrowful unto death ! 
Stand by me/' He says, u and watch with me — and pray ! " 
The man ! — the man proving his humanity ! proving his 
humanity w r hich belonged to him as truly as his divinity ! 
The man, turning to, and clinging to his friends ! Gathering 
them around Him at that terrible moment when he was about 
to face His enemies, He cries again and again : — " Stand by 
me ! stand by me ! and support me, and watch, and pray with 
me ! n And then, leaving them, alone He enters the gloomy 
place. Summoning all the courage of God, — summoning to 
His aid all the infinite resources of His love, — summoning 
the great thought that if He w 7 as about to be destroyed, 
mankind was to be saved, He dashes fearlessly into the depths 
of Gethsemane 5 and when He was as far from His Apostles 
as a man could cast a stone, — there, in the dark depths of 
the forest, the Lord Jesus knelt down and prayed. What 
was His prayer ! Oh, that army of sins was closing around 
Him ! Oh, the breath of Hell w r as on His face ! There did 
He see the busy demons marshalling their forces, — drawing 
closer and closer to Him all the iniquities of men. " Oh, 
Father ! n He cries — " Oh, Father, if it be possible, let this 
chalice pass away from me ! ?; But He immediately added — 
" Not My will but Thine be done ! w Then turning — for the 
Father's will was indicated to him in the voice from Heaven, 



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with the first tone of anger upon it ; the first word of anger 
that Jesus ever heard from His Father's lips, saying : " It is 
My will to strike Thee ! Go ! " He turned ; He bared his 
innocent bosom , He put out His sinless hands ; and, turning 
to all the powers of hell, allowed the ocean-wave of sin to 
flow in upon Him and overwhelm Him. The lusts and 
wickedness of men before the Flood ; the impurities of Sodom 
and Gomorrha, the idolatries of the nations, the ingratitude 
of Israel ; — all the sins that ever appeared under the eyes of 
God's anger — all — all ! — like the waves of the ocean, coming 
in and falling upon a solitary man, who kneels alone on the 
shore, — all fell upon Jesus Christ. He looks upon Himself, 
and He scarcely recognizes Himself now. Are these the 
hands of Jesus Christ, scarcely daring to uplift themselves in 
prayer, for they are red with ten thousand deeds of blood ? 
Is this the heart of Jesus, frozen up with unbelief, as if He 
felt — what He could not feel — that He was the personal 
enemy of God? Is this the sacred soul of Jesus Christ, 
darkened for the moment with the errors and the adulteries 
of the whole w^orld ? In the halls of His memory nothing 
but the hideous figures of sin ! — -desolation, broken hearts, 
weeping eyes, cries of despair, dire blasphemies ) — these are 
the things that He sees within Himself, that He hears in His 
ears ! It is a world of sin around Him. It is a raging of 
demons about Him. It is as if sin had entered into His blood. 
Oh, God ! He bears it as long as a suffering man can bear. 
But at length, from out the depths of His most sacred heart, 
— from out the very divinity that was in Him, — the foun- 
tains of the great deep were moved, and forth came a rush of 
blood from every pore ! His eyes can no longer dwell on 
the terrible vision ! He can no longer look upon these red 
scenes of blood and impurity ! A weakness comes mercifully 
to His relief. He gazes upon the fate that God has put upon 
Him 5 and then He falls to the earth, writhing in His agony ; 
and forth from every pore of His sacred frame streams the 
blood ! Behold Him ! Behold the blood as it oozes out 
through His garments, making them red as those of a man 
who has trodden in the wine press ! Behold Him, as His 
agonizing face lies prone upon the earth. Behold Him, as, in 
the hour of that terrible agony, His blood reddens the soil 
of Gethsemane ! — behold Him as he writhes on the ground, — 
one mass of streaming blood, — sweating blood from head to 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



foot, — crying out, in His agony, for the sins of the whole 
world ! A mountain of the anger of God is upon Him ! 
Behold Him in Gethsemane, Christian man ! Kneel down 
by His side ! Lie down on that blood-stained earth, and, for 
the love of J esus Christ, whisper one word of consolation to 
Him ! For, remember that you and I were there; were there ; 
and He saw us, — even as He sees us in this horn, gathered 
under the roof of this church. He saw us there, in our qual- 
ity of sinners, as — with every sin that ever we committed- — as 
if, with a stone in our uplifted hand, we flung it down upon 
His defenceless form ! When Acan was convicted of a crime, 
Joshua gave word that every man of the Jewish nation 
should take a stone in his hand, and fling it at him ; and all 
the people of Israel came and flung them upon him, and put 
him to death. So every son of man, from Adam down to the 
last that was born on this earth, — every son of man — every 
human being that breathed the breath of God's creation in 
this world, was there, in that hour, to fling his sins, and let 
them fall down upon Jesus Christ. All, all, — save one. 
There was one whose hand was not lifted against Him. 
There was one who, if she had been there, could be only 
there to help Him and to console Him. But no help could 
come, no consolation in that horn: ! Therefore Mary, the 
only sinless one, was absent. 

He rises after an horn. No scourge has been yet laid 
upon that sacred body. No executioner's hand has profaned 
Him as yet. ISo nail had been driven through His hands. 
And yet the blood covered His body; — for His Passion 
began from that source to which I have alluded — His own 
divine spirit : His Passion — His pain began from within. 
He rises from the earth. What is this which we hear? 
There is a sound, as of the voices of a rabble. There are 
hoarse voices filling the night. There are men with clubs 
in their hands, and lanterns lighted. They come with fire 
and fury in their eyes, and the universal voice is, u Where is 
He ? Where is He V J Ah there is one at the head of them ! 
You hear his voice : — " Come cautiously ! I see Him. I 
will point Him out to you ! There are four of them. There 
He is, with three of His friends. When you see me take a 
man in my arms and kiss him, He is the man ! Lay hold 
of Him at once, and drag Him away with you; — and do 
what you please ! n Who is he that says this ? Who are 



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they that come like hell-hounds, thirsting for the blood of 
Jesus Christ ? that come with the rage of hell in their blood, 
and in their mouths ? They are come to take Him and to 
tear Him to pieces. Who is this that leads them on ? Oh, 
friends and men ! it is J udas, the Apostle ! Judas, who 
spent three years in the society of Jesus Christ ! Judas, 
that was taught by Him every lesson of piety and virtue, by 
word and by example ! Judas, who received.the priesthood ! 
Judas, upon whose lips, even now, blushes the sacred blood 
received in holy communion ! Oh, it is Judas ! And he 
has come to give up his Master, whom he has sold for thirty 
pieces of silver. He went after his unworthy communion to 
the Pharisees, and he said : " What will you give me, and I 
will sell Him to you? — give Him' up?" He put no price 
upon Jesus. He thought so little of his Master, that He was 
prepared to take any thing they would offer. They offered 
him thirty small pieces of silver; and he clutched at the 
money. He thought it was a great deal, and more than 
Jesus Christ was worth ! Now he comes to fulfil his portion 
of the contract ; and he points the Lord out by going up to 
him — putting his traitor lips upon the face of J esus Christ, 
and sealing upon that face the kiss of a false-hearted, a 
wicked, and a traitorous follower. Behold him now. The 
Son of God sees him approach. He opens his arms to him. 
Judas flings himself in his Master's arms, and he hears 
the gentle reproach, — oh, last proof of love ! — oh, last 
opportunity to him to repent — even in . this hour ! — " Judas, 
is it with a kiss thou betray est the Son of Man ! n 

Now, the multitude rush in upon Him and seize Him. 
We have a supplement to the Gospel narrative in the reve- 
lations of many of the Saints, and of holy souls who, in 
reward for their extraordinary devotion to the Passion of our 
Lord, were favored with a clbser sight of His sufferings. We 
are told by one of these, — whose revelations, though not yet 
approved, are tolerated by the Church, — that when our 
Divine Lord gave Himself into the hands of His enemies, 
they bound His sacred arms with a rope and rushed towards 
the city, dragging along with them, forcibly and violently, 
the exhausted Redeemer. Exhausted, I say, for His soul 
had just passed through the agony of His prayer, and His 
body was" still dripping with the sweat of blood. Between 
that spot and Jerusalem flowed the little stream called the 



9S 



FATHER B USEE'S DISCOURSES. 



Brook of Kedron. "When they came to that little stream, 
our Saviour stumbled and fell over a stone. They, without 
waiting to give Him time to rise, pulled and dragged Him 
on with all then might. They literally dragged Him 
through the water, wounding and bruising His body by 
contact with the rocks that were in its bed. It was night 
when they brought Him into Jerusalem. That night a 
cohort of Roman soldiers formed the body-guard of Pilate. 
They were called " The Archers y 7 men of the most 
corrupt and terrible vices ) men without faith in God or man : 
men whose every word was either a blasphemy or an impu- 
rity. These men, who were only anxious for amusement, 
when they found the prisoner dragged into Jerusalem at 
that horn, took possession of Him for the night ; and they 
brought Him to then quarters : and there the Redeemer was 
put sitting in the midst of them. During the whole of that 
long night, between Holy-Thursday and Good-Friday 
morning, the soldiers remained sleepless, employed in loud 
revel, and in their derision and torture of the Son of God. 
They struck Him on the head. They spat upon Him. 
They hustled Him, with scorn, from one to another. They 
bruised Him. They wounded Him in every conceivable 
form Here, — silent as a lamb before the shearer, — was the 
Eternal Son of God, looking out, with eyes of infinite know- 
ledge and purity, upon the very vilest men that all the 
iniquity of this earth could bring around Him. 

He was brought before the High Priest. He was asked 
to answer. The moment the Son of God opened His lips to 
speak — the moment he attempt to testify — a brawny soldier 
came out of the ranks, stepped before our Divine Lord, and 
saying to him : " Answerest thou the High Priest thus ? 9 
drew back his clenched mailed hand, and, with the full force 
of a strong man, flinging himself forward, struck Almighty 
God in the face ! The Saviour reeled, stunned by the blow. 

The morning came. Now He is led before Pilate, the 
Roman Governor, who alone has power to sentence Him 
to death, if He be guilty, — and who has the obligation to 
protect Him and set Him at liberty, if He be innocent. The 
Scribes and Pharisees and the Publicans were there, — the 
leaders of the people, and the rabble of Jerusalem were 
with them : and in the midst of them was the silent, innocent 
Victim who knew that the sad and terrible hour of His 



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crucifixion was upon Him. Brought before Pilate, He is 
accused of this crime and that. Witnesses are called ; and 
the moment they come — the moment they look upon the face 
of God, — they are unable to give testimony against Him. 
They could say nothing that proved Him guilty of any 
crime ) and Pilate enraged turned to the Pharisees, tinned to 
the learned men, turned to the people themselves, and said : 
" What do you bring this man here for ? Why is he bound f 
Why is he bruised and maltreated ? What has he done 1 I 
find no crime, or shadow of a crime in him." He is not only 
innocent, but the judge declares, before all the people, that the 
man has done nothing whatever to deserve any punishment, 
much less death. How is this sentence received? The 
Pharisees are busy among the people, whispering their cal- 
umnies, and prompting them to cry out, and say : {L Crucify 
Him ! crucify Him ! We want to have Jesus of Nazareth 
crucified ! We want to do it early, because the evening 
will come and bring the Sabbath with it ! We want to have 
His blood shed ! Quick ! Quick ! Tell Pilate he must con- 
demn Jesus of Nazareth, or else he is no friend to Caesar ! " 
The people cry out : " Let Him be crucified ! If you let 
Him go, you are no friend of Caesar ! " What says Pilate ? 
" Crucify your king ! He calls himself i King of the Jews. 7 
You yourselves wished to make Him your king: and you 
honored Him. Am I to crucify Him whom you would have 
for king? Am I to crucify your king?" And then, — - 
then, in an awful moment, Israel declared solemnly that God 
was no longer her king 5 for the people cried out : " He is 
not our king ! We have no king but Caesar ! We have 
no king but Caesar ! 99 The old cry of the man who, com- 
mitting sin, says : "I have no king but my own passions ; I 
have no king but this world 5 I have no king but the thoughts 
of money, or of honors, or of indulgence ! " So the Jews 
cried : " He is no king of ours 5 we have no king but Caesar ! 99 
Pilate, no doubt, in a spirit of compromise, said to himself : 
u I see this man cannot escape. I see murder in these people's 
eyes ! They are determined upon the crucifixion of this 
man ; and, therefore, I must try to find out some way or 
another of appealing to their mercy." Then he thought 1o 
himself : "I will make an example of Him. I will tear the 
flesh off His bones. I will cover Him with blood. I will 
make Him such a pitiable object that not one in all that 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



crowd will have the heart to demand further punishment, or 
another blow for Him." So he called his officers, and said : 
" Take this man, and scourge Him so as to make Him fright- 
ful to behold ; let Him be so mangled that when I show 
Him to the people, they may be moved to pity and spare his 
life : for he is an innocent man. 77 

In the cold early morning, the Lord is led forth into the 
court-yard of the Praetorium ; arid there sixty of the strongest 
men of the guard are picked ont, — chosen for then strength ; 
and they are told off into thirty pairs, and every man of the 
sixty has a new scourge in his hand. Some have chains of 
iron; some cords knotted, with steel spurs at the end of 
them ; others, the green, snpple twig, plncked from the 
hedge in the early morning ; — long, and supple, and terrible, 
armed with thorns. Now these men come and close around 
our Lord. They strip Him of His garments ; they leave 
Him perfectly naked, blushing in His infinite modesty and 
purity, so that He longs for them to begin in order that they 
may robe Him in His blood. They tie His hands to a 
pillar; they tie Him so that He cannot move, nor shrink 
from a blow, nor turn aside. And then the two first 
advance ; they raise their brawny arms in the ah ; and then, 
with a hiss, down come the scourges upon the sacred body of 
the Lord ! Quicker and quicker these arms rise in the air 
with these terrible scourges. Each stroke leaves its livid 
mark. The flesh rises into welts. The blood is congealed 
and shows purple beneath the skin. Presently, the scourge 
comes down again, and it is followed by a quick spurt of blood 
from the sacred body of our. Lord ; — the blows quickening, 
and without pause, and without mercy ; the blood flowing 
after every additional blow ; — till these two strong men are 
fatigued and tired out, — until their scourges are sodden 
and saturated, and dripping with His blood, do they still 
strike Him, — and then retire, exhausted, from then terrible 
labor; then, in comes another pair, — fresh, vigorous; fresh 
arms and new men come to rain blows upon the defenceless 
body of the Lord, upon His sacred limbs, upon His sacred 
shoulders ! Every portion of His sacred body is torn : every 
blow brings the flesh from the bones, and opens a new wound 
and a new stream of blood. Now He stands ankle deep-in 
His own blood, — hanging out from that pillar, exhausted, 
with head drooping, almost insensible. He is still beaten, — 



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even when the very men who strike Him think, or suspect, 
that they may have killed Him. It was written in the Old 
Law, " If a man be found guilty," says the Lord in Deuter- 
onomy, "let him be beaten, and let the measure of his sin 
be the measure of his punishment; yet so that no criminal 
receive more than forty stripes, lest thy brother go away 
shamefully torn from before thy face ! n These were the 
words of the law. Well the Pharisees knew it ! Well the 
Publicans and Scribes knew it ! And there they stood 
around, in the outer circle, with hate in their eyes, fury" up- 
on their lips ; and even when the very men who were dealing 
out their revenge thought they had killed the victim they 
were scourging, still came forth from these hardened hearts 
the words of encouragement : " Strike Him still ! Strike 
Him still ! 79 And there they continued their cruel task until 
sixty men retired, fatigued and worn out with the work of 
the scourging of our Lord ! 

Now, behold Him as, senseless, He hangs from that pillar, 
one mass of bruised and torn flesh ! — one open wound, from 
the crown of His head to the soles of His feet ! — all bathed 
in the crimson of His own blood, and terrible to behold ! If 
you saw Him here, as He stood there; if you saw Him now, 
standing upon that altar, — there is not a man or woman 
among you that could bear to look upon the terrible sight. 
They cut the cords that bound Him to the pillar; and the 
Redeemer fell down, bathed in His own blood, and senseless 
upon the ground. Behold Him again, as at Gethsemane ; 
now, no longer the pain from within, but the pain from the 
terrible hand of man — the instrument of God's vengeance. 
Oh, behold Him ! Mary heard those stripes and yet she 
could not save her Son. Mary's heart went down with Hin\ 
to the ground, as He fell from that terrible pillar of His 
scourging ! Behold Him, you mothers ! You fathers, 
behold the Virgin's Child, your God — Jesus Christ ! The 
soldiers amused themselves at the sight of His sufferings, and 
scoffed at Him as He lay prostrate. Recovering somewhat, 
after a time He opened His languid eyes and rose from the 
ground,— rose, all torn and bleeding. They throw an old 
purple rag around His shoulders, and they set Him upon a 
stone. One of them has been, in the meantime, busily 
engaged in twisting and twining a crown made of some of 
those thorns, which they had prepared for the scourg- 



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FATHER BT EKE' S DISCOURSES. 



ing, — a crown in which seventy-two long thorns were put, so 
that they entered into the sacred head of our Lord. This 
crown was set upon his brow. Then a man came with a 
reed in his hand, and struck those thorns deep into the tender 
forehead. They are fastened deeply in the most sensitive 
organ, where pain becomes maddening in its agony. He 
strikes the thorns in, till even the sacred humanity of our 
Lord forces from Him the cry of agony ! He strikes them in 
still deeper ! — deeper ! Oh, my God ! Oh, Father of Mercy ! 
And all this opens up new streams of blood ! — new fountains 
of love ! The blood streams down, and the face of the Most 
High is hidden under its crimson veil. Now, now, indeed, 
O Pilate, — wise and compromising Pilate, — now, indeed, 
you have gained your end ! You have proved yourself the 
friend of Caesar. Now, there is no fear but that the Jews, 
when they see Him, will be moved by compassion ! 

They bring Him back and they put Him standing before 
the Roman governor. His rugged pagan heart is moved 
within him with horror when he sees the fearful example they 
have made of Him. Frightened when he beheld Him, he 
turned away his eyes ; the spectacle was too terrible. He 
called for water and washed his hands. " I declare before 
God," he says, " I am innocent of this man's blood ! 79 He leads 
Him out on the balcony of his house. There was the raging 
multitude, swaying to and fro. Some are exciting the crowd, 
urging them to cry out to crucify Him ; some are pre- 
paring the Cross, others getting ready the hammer and nails, 
some thinking of the spot where they would crucify Him ! 
There they were arguing- with diabolical rage. Pilate came 
forth in his robes of office. Soldiers stand on either side of 
him. Two soldiers bring forth, our Lord. His hands are tied. 
A reed is put in His hand in derision. Thorns are on His 
brow. Blood is flowing from every member of His sacred 
body. An old tattered purple rag isflnng over him. Pilate 
brings him out, and looking round on the multitude says : 
" Ecce homo ! Behold the man ! You said I was no friend to 
Caesar. You said I was afraid to punish Him ! Behold Him 
now ! Is there a man among you who would have the heart 
to demand more punishment V Oh, Heaven and earth! 
Oh, Heaven and earth ! The cry from out every lip — from 
out every heart is : " We are not yet satisfied ! Give Him 
to us ! Give Him to us ! We will crucify Him ! n " But," 



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says Pilate, " I am innocent of His blood ! " And then came 
a word — and this word has brought a curse upon the Jews 
from that day to this. Then came the word that brought 
the consequences of their crime on their hard hearts and 
blinded intellects. They cried out : " His blood be upon us 
. and upon-our children ! Crucify Him ! v u But/' says Pilate, 
" here is a man in prison • he is a robber and a murderer ! 
And here is Jesus of Nazereth whom I declare to be inno- 
cent ! One of these I must release. Which will you have- 
Jesus or Barrabas?" And they cried out "Barrabas ! give 
us Barrabas ! But let Jesus be crucified ! " Here is the 
Son of God compared to the robber and the murderer ! And 
the robber and murderer is declared fit to live, and Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, is declared fit only to die i The 
vilest man in Jerusalem declared in that hour that he would 
not associate with our Lord, and that the Son of God was 
not worthy to breathe the air polluted by this man ! So 
Barrabas came forth rejoicing in his escape : and, as he 
mingled in the crowd, he too, threw up his hands and cried 
out, " Oh, let Him be crucified ! let Him be crucified ! " 

He is led forth from the tribunal of Pilate. And now, 
just outside of the Prefect's door, there are men holding up a 
long, weighty, rude cross, that they had made rapidly ; for 
they took two large beams, put one across the other, fastened 
them with great nails, and made it strong enough to uphold 
a full-grown man. There is the cross ! There is the man 
with the nails ! And there are all the accompaniments of 
the execution. And He who is scarcely able to stand, — He, 
bruised and afflicted, — the Man of Sorrows, almost fainting 
with infirmity, He is told to take that cross upon his bleed- 
ing, wounded shoulders, and to go forward to the mountain 
of Calvary. Taking to him that cross, holding it to His 
wounded breast, putting to it, in tender kisses, the lips that 
were distilling blood, the Son of God, with the cross upon His 
shoulders, turns His faint and tottering footsteps towards the 
steep and painful way that led to Calvary. Behold Him as 
He goes forth ! That cross is a weight almost more than a 
man can carry : and it is upon the shoulders of one from 
whom all strength and manliness and courage are gone ! 
Behold the Redeemer, as He toils painfully along, amid the 
shouts and shrieks of the enraged people ! Behold Him as he 
toils along the flinty way, the soldiers driving Him on, the 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



people inciting them, every one rushing and hastening to Cal- 
vary, to witness the execution. John, the beloved disciple, 
follows Him. A few of His faithful disciples toil along. 
But there is one who traces each of His blood-stained foot- 
steps ; there is one who follows Him with a breaking heart : 
there is one whose very soul within her is pierced and torn, 
with the sword of sorrow. Oh, need I name the Mother, the 
Queen of Martyrs? In that hour of His martyrdom, Mary, 
the mother of J esus, followed immediately in His footsteps, 
and her whole soul went forth in prayer for an opportunity 
to approach Him to wipe the blood from His sacred face. 
Oh, if they would only let her come to Him, and say, " My 
child ! I am with you ! " If they would only let her take 
in her womanly arms, from off the shoulders of her dear Son, 
that heavy cross that He cannot bear! But no ! She must 
witness His misery 5 she must witness His pain. 

He toils along: He takes the first few steps up the 
rugged side of Calvary. Suddenly His heart ceases to beat ; 
the light leaves His eyes 5 He sways, for a moment, to and 
fro 5 the weakness. and the sorrow of death are upon Him 5 He 
totters, falls to the earth 5 and down, with a heavy crash, 
comes the weighty cross upon the prostrate form of Jesus 
Christ ! Oh, behold Him, as for the third time He embraces 
that earth which is sanctified and redeemed by His love f 
Mary rushes forward 5 Mary thinks her child is dead : she 
thinks that terrible cross must have crushed Him into the 
earth. She rushes forward ; but with rude and barbarous 
words the woman is flung aside. The cross is lifted up and 
placed on the shoulders of Simon of Cyrene ; and, with 
blows and blasphemies, the Saviour of the world is obliged 
to rise from that earth ; and, worn with the sorrows and 
afflictions of death, He faces the rugged steep on the summit 
of which is the place destined for His crucifixion. Arrived at 
the place, they tear off His garments ; they take from Him 
the seamless garment which His mother's loving hands had 
woven for Him 5 they take the humble clothing in which the 
Son of God had robed Himself, — saturated, steeped as it is in 
His blood 5 and, in removing them, they open afresh every 
wound, and once again the saving blood of Christ is poured 
out upon the ground. With rude, blasphemous words the 
God-man is told to lie down upon that cross. Of His own free 
will He stretches His tender limbs, puts forth His hands, and 



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stretches out His feet at their order. The executioners take 
the nails and the hammer, and they kneel upon His sacred 
bosom j they press out His hands till they bring the palms to 
where they had made the holes to fit the nails. They stretch 
Him out upon that cross, even as the Paschal Lamb was 
stretched out upon the altar * they kneel upon the cross 5 th'ey 
lay the nails upon the palms of His hands. The first blow 
drives the nsil deep into his hands, the next blow sends it 
into the cross. Blow follows blow. They are inflamed with 
the rage of hell. Earnestly they work, — and hell delights 
in the scene, — tearing the muscles and the sinews of His 
hands and feet. Rude, terrible blows fall on these nails, and 
reecho in the heart of the Virgin, until that heart seems to 
be broken at the foot of the cross. And, now 7 , when they 
have driven these nails to the heads, fastening Him to the 
wood, the cross is lifted up from the ground. Slowly, 
solemnly, the figure of J esus Christ, all red with blood, all 
torn and disfigured, rises into the ah', until the cross, attain- 
ing its full height, is fixed into its socket in the earth. The 
banner of salvation is flung out over the world j and Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, and the Redeemer of mankind, ap- 
pears in mid-air, and looks out over the crowd and over Jerusa- 
lem, over hill and valley, far away towards the Sea of Galilee, 
and all around the horizon • and the dying eyes of the Saviour 
are turned over the land and the people for whom He is 
shedding His blood. Uplifted in mid-air, — the eternal 
sacrifice of the Redeemer for everlasting, — hanging from 
these three terrible nails on the cross, — for three hours He 
remained. Every man took up his position. Mary, His 
Mother, approaches, for this is the hour of her agony ; she 
must suffer in soul what He suffers in body. John, the dis- 
ciple of love, approaches, and takes his stand under his Mas- 
ter's outstretched hands. Mary Magdalen rushes through 
the guards, to the feet of her Lord and Master; they 
are now bathed with other tears — with the tears of blood 
that save the world, — the feet which it was her joy to weep 
over ! And now she clasps the cross, and pours out her 
tears, until they mingle with the blood which flows down 
His feet. There are the Pharisees and the Scribes, who had 
gained their point 5 they come and stand before the cross ; 
they look upon that figure of awful pain and misery ; they 
see those thorns sunk deeply into that drooping head ; with. 



106 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



no love in their hearts, they see the agony expressed in the 
eyes of the Victim who is dying • and then looking np exult- 
ingly, they rejoice and say to Him: "You said you could 
destroy the Temple, and build it up in three days ; now, 
come down from the cross, and we will believe in and wor- 
ship you. 77 The Roman soldier stood there, admiring the 
courage with which the man died. The third hour is ap- 
proaching. The penitent thief on His right hand had received 
his pardon. A sudden gloom gathers round the scene. 

Before we come to the last moment, I ask you to con- 
sider Jesus Christ as your God. I ask you to consider the 
sacrifice that He made, and to consider the circumstances 
under which He approached that last moment of His life. 
All He had in the world was some little money : it was kept 
to give to the poor ; Judas had that, and he had stolen it. 
Christ had literally nothing but the simple garments with 
which He had been clothed ; these the soldiers took, and they 
raffled for them under His dying eyes. What remained for 
Him ? The love of His mother • the sympathy of John ? But 
He, uplifted on the cross, said to Mary: " Woman, behold 
thy son ! " And to John He said ; " Son, behold thy mother ! 
Thus I give one to the other 5 let that love suffice : and leave 
Me all alone and abandoned to die. 77 What remained to 
Him ? His reputation for sanctity, for wisdom, and for power. 
His reputation for sanctity was so great, that the people said ; 
" This man never could do such things if He had not come 
from God. 77 And as to His wisdom : His reputation for wis- 
dom was such that we read, not one of the Pharisees or Doc- 
tors of the Law had the courage to argue with Him. His 
reputation for power was such that all the people said : " This 
man speaks and preaches, not as the Pharisees, but as one 
having power. 77 Christ had sacrificed and given up His 
reputation for sanctity, for He was crucified as a blasphemer 
and a teacher of evil. His reputation for wisdom was 
sacrificed in the course of His Passion, when Herod declar- 
ed that He was a fool. Clothed in a white garment, in 
derision, He was marched through the streets of J erusalem, 
from Herod 7 s palace to Pilate's house, dressed as a fool ,• and 
men came to their doors to point the finger of scorn and 
laugh at Him, and reproached each other for having listened 
to His doctrine. His reputation for power was gone. They 
came to the foot of the cross and said : " Now, if you have 



CHRIST ON CALVARY. 



107 



the power, come down from that cross and we will believe 
you." Now, all the man's earthly possessions are gone : Hi 3 
few garments are gone ) Mary's love and sustaining com- 
passion are gone ; His reputation is gone 5 He is one wound, 
from head to foot ) the anger of man has vented itself upon 
Him. What remains for Him ? The ineffable consolations of 
His divinity ; the infinite peace of the Godhead, the Father ! 
Oh, Man of Sorrow ! Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, cling to that ! 
Whatever else may be taken from you, that cannot be taken 
away. Oh, Master, lean upon Thy Godhead ! Oh, cruci- 
fied, bleeding, dying Lord, do not give up that which is Thy 
peace and Thy comfort, — Thy joy in the midst of all this suf- 
fering ! But what do I see ? The dying head is lifted up ; 
the drooping eyes are cast heavenwards j an expression of 
agony absorbing all others comes over the dying face 5 and a 
voice breaks forth from the quivering, agonized lips — " Mv 
God ! My God ! why hast Thou forsaken Me ! " The all- 
sufficient comfort of the divinity and the sustaining power 
of the Father's love are put away from Him in that hour ! A 
cloud came between Jesus Christ upon the cross, the victim, 
of our sins, and the Father's face in Heaven • and that cloud 
was the concentrated anger of God which came upon His 
divine Son, because of our sins and our transgressions. • Not 
that Flis divinity quitted Him. No ; He was still God ) but 
by His owm act and free will, He put away the comfort and 
the sustaining power of the divinity for a time, in order that 
every element of sorrow, every grief, every misery of which 
the greatest victim of this earth was capable, should be all 
concentrated upon Him at the hour of His death. And then, 
having used these solemn words, He waited the moment 
when the Father's will should separate the soul from the 
bod}^. 

Now, Mary and John have embraced : Judas is struggling 
in the last throes of his self-imposed death : Peter has wept 
his tears. The devil for a moment triumphs ; and the man- 
God upon the cross awaits the hour and the moment of the 
world's redemption. The sun in the Heavens is withdrawn 
behind mysterious clouds : and though it was but three 
o'clock in the day, a darkness like that of midnight came 
upon the land. Men looked upon each other in horror and in 
terror. Presently a rumbling noise is heard : they look 
around and see the hills and the mountains tremble on 



108 



FAT SEE BEE EES DISCOTJBSES. 



their bases : the very ground seems to rock beneath them ; 
it groans as though the earth were breaking up from its cen- 
tre 5 the rocks are splitting up ) and round them strange fig- 
ures are flitting here and there ; the graves are opened, and 
the dead entombed there are walking in the dark ways before 
them. " What is this ? Who is this terrible man that we 
have put on that cross ? " The earth quakes , darkness is still 
upon it ) perfect silence reigns over Calvary, unbroken by 
the cry of the dying Redeemer, — unbroken by the voice of 
the scoffers, — unbroken by the sobs of the Magdalen. Every 
heart seems to stand still. Then, over that silence, in the 
midst of that darkness, is heard the terrible cry — " Father, 
into Thy hands I commend My spirit ! " The head of the 
Lord Jesus Christ droops ; the man upon the cross is dead ! 
And the world is saved and redeemed ! The moment the cry 
came forth from the dying lips of Jesus Christ, the devil, 
who stood there, knew that it was the Son of God who was 
crucified, and that his day was gone. Howling in despair, he 
fled from the Redeemer's presence into the lowest depths of 
hell. The world is saved ! The world is redeemed ! Man's 
sin is wiped out ! The blood that washed away the iniquity 
of our race has ceased to flow from the dead and pulseless 
heart of Jesus. Wrapt in prayer, Mary bowed down her 
head under the weight of her sorrows ! the Magdalen looked 
up and beheld the dead face of her Redeemer. John 
stretched out his hands and looked upon that face. The 
Roman soldier lays hold of his lance, under some strange 
impulse. Word comes that the body was to be taken down ; 
they did not know whether our Lord was dead ,* there 
might yet some remnant of life remain in Him. The 
question was to prove that he was dead ; and this man ap- 
proaches. As a warrior, he puts his lance in rest, rushes fur- 
ward with all the strength of his arm, and drives the lance 
right into the heart of the Lord ! The heavy cross sways ; 
it seems as if it is about to fall ; the lance quivers for an in- 
stant in the wound ; the man draws it forth again j and forth 
from the heart of the dead Christ stream the waters of life 
and the blood of redemption ! The soldier drew back his 
lance, and the next moment, on his knees, before the Cruci- 
fied, with the lance dripping with the blood of the Lord still 
in his hand, he cried out : " Truly this Man was the Son of 
God ! 79 Then the earthquake began again • the dead were 



CHRIST ON CALVARY. 



109 



seen passing in fearful array, turning the eyes of the tomb 
upon the faces of those Pharisees who had crucified the Lord. 
And the people, frightened, became conscious that they had 
committed a terrible crime, when they heard Longinus, the 
Roman soldier, cry out, — " This Man is truly the Son of God, 
whom you have crucified." Then came down from Calvary 
the crowds, exclaiming — " Yes, truly this is the Son of God." 
And they went down the hillside, weeping and beating their 
breasts ! Oh, how much we cost ! Oh, how great was the 
price that He paid for us ! Oh, how generously He gave 
all He had — and He was God — for your salvation and 
mine! It is well to rejoice and to be here; it is well to 
come and contemplate the blessings which that blessed, gra- 
cious Lord has conferred on us. It is, also, well to consider 
wmat He paid and how much it cost Him. And if we con- 
sider this, then, with Mary the mother, and Mary the Mag- 
dalen, and John the Evangelist and friend — then will our 
hearts be afflicted. For the soul that is not afflicted on this 
day shall be wiped out from the pages of the Book of Life. 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE SALVATION OF 
SOCIETY. 



[ A Lecture delivered by the Very Rev. T. N. BurTce, O.P., in the Church 
of St. Cha,7*les Borromeo, Brooklyn, April 2, 1872.] 

My Fktends : The subject which, as you know, has been 
announced to you, and which I purpose to treat before you 
this evening, is the proposition that " The Catholic Church 
is the Salvation of Society." Perhaps there are some among 
you who think I am an unusually courageous man to make so 
wild and so rash an assertion. But it must be acknowledged, 
indeed, that, for the past eighteen hundred years that the 
Catholic Church has existed, Society has aw ays endeavored 
to get away from her grasp and to live without her. People 
who admit the action of the Church, who allow it to in- 
fluence their history, who let it influence their lives — if 
they rise to the height of their Christian elevation, if 
they conform themselves to the teachings of what is true, 
if they avail themselves of the graces of the Church, are 
very often scoffed at and called a priest-ridden and besotted 
people. Nowadays, it is the fashion to look upon that man 
as the best of his class who has succeeded the most completely 
in emancipating himself from every control of religion, or of 
the Catholic Church. In one sense, it is a great advantage 
to a man to have no religion, — to shake off the influence of 
the Church. Such, a man remains without a conscience and 
without remorse of mind. He saves himself from those 
moments of uneasiness and self-accusation that come to most 
men until they completely lose all reverence for God ; and 
the consequence is that, if he is a sinner, and in the way of 
sin, he enjoys it all the more ; and he can make the more use 
of his time in every pathway of iniquity, if he has no obstacles 
of conscience or of religion to fetter him. So far, it is an 
advantage to be without religion. The robber, for instance, 
can rob more confidently if he can manage to forget that 
there is a God above him. The murderer can wash his 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 



Ill 



hands with more serenity, no matter how deeply he stains 
them, — if there is no condemning record, no accusing voice, 
no ear to hear the voice of the blood that cries out against 
him for satisfaction. He can pursue his misdeeds all the 
more at his own ease. And so, for this, among many other 
reasons, the world is constantly trying to emancipate itself 
from the dominion of God, and from the control of the Church, 
the messenger of the Saviour of the world. 

It would seem, therefore, at first sight rather a hazardous 
thing to stand up in the face of the world, and in the face of 
society to-day — this boasted society — and say to them : 
u You cannot live, — you cannot get on without the Catholic 
Church ! She can do without you ! A coterie here ! A 
tribe there ! A nation elsewhere ! A race beyond ! Of 
what account are you to her, speaking humanly ? She can do 
without you. But you, at your peril, must let her in, because 
you cannot do without her ! 7J Now, this is the pith and 
substance of all that I intend to say to you here to-night ) but 
not to say it without proof : for I do not ask any man here to 
accept one iota of what I say, on my mere assertion, until I 
have proved it. 

My proposition, as you perceive, is that the Catholic Church 
is the salvation of society — and it involves three distinct 
propositions, although it may appear to you to be only one : 
First, it involves the proposition that society requires to be 
saved, — that it requires something for its salvation. Then, 
it involves the proposition that the Catholic Church, so far, 
has been the salvation of the world in times past ; — out of 
which grows the third proposition ; namely, that she is 
necessary to the world in all future time ; and it is her 
destiny to be, in time to come, what she has been in time 
past, — the salvation of society. These are three distinct 
propositions. 

The man who admires this century of ours and who 
serenely glories in it, — who calls it " the Age of Progress " 
— the "Age of Enlightenment;" — who speaks of his own 
land, — be it Ireland or America, or Italy or France, — as a 
country of enlightenment, and its people as an enlightened 
people, — this man stands amazed, when I say to him that 
this boasted society requires salvation. Somebody or other 
must save it. For, consider what it has done ? What has 
it produced without the saving influence of the Catholic 



112 FATHER BUBKE'S DISCOUBSES. 



Church ? We may analyze society, as I intend to view it, 
from an intellectual stand-point. Then we shall see the 
society of learning, — the society of art and of literature. 
Or we may view it from a moral stand-point, — that is to say, 
in the government of the world, and how the wheels of 
society work in this boasted progress of ours, — emancipated 
from the Catholic Church, as this society has been mainly 
for the last three hundred years ; in some countries more, 
in some countries less, in some countries entirely. Now, I 
ask you, what has this society produced, intellectually, 
morally, politically f Intellectually, it has produced a philo- 
sophy that asks us, at this hour of - the day, to believe in 
ghosts ! The last climax of the philosophy of this nineteenth 
century of ours is " Spiritualism," of which you have all 
heard. The philosopher of to-day, unlike even the philoso- 
pher of the Pagan times of old, does not direct his studies, 
nor the labors of his mind, to the investigation of the truth 
and of the development of the hidden secrets of nature — of 
the harmonies of the soul of man — of the wants of the spirit 
of man. To none of these does the philosopher of to-day 
direct his attention. But this man, — this leader of mind in 
society, — gets a lot of his friends round a table 5 and there 
they sit and listen until "the spirits" begin to "knock: 77 that 
is the pith and substance of his philosophy. Another man — 
one of another great school j and, indeed, these two schools 
may be said to have divided the philosophical empire of our 
age ; — this disciple of another school stands up in our 
churches and pulpits, and says: "0 man! son of the children 
of men, — since thou hast received a commission to sound the 
Scriptures — to mend the 1 Word of God, 7 as it is called, — 
believe me when I tell you that our common ancestor was an 
ape, — and that it was by the merest accident, — the accident 
of progression 5 eating a certain kind of food 5 endeavoring, 
by degrees, to walk erect instead of crawling on our hands 
and feet, — it w T as by the merest accident, — a congeries of 
accidental circumstances, — that we happen to be men, and 
have not tails ! 77 This is the philosophy of the nineteenth 
century ! This is the intellectual grandeur and " Progress 
of the Age 77 that says : " I do not require salvation ! 77 

The moral progress of this society, which has emancipated 
itself from the Catholic Church, — what is it ? It has pro- 
duced, in this our society, sins, of which 7 as a priest and a 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 113 



man, I am ashamed to speak. It has produced in the city 
of New York the terrible insult to a crucified Lord, — that a 
woman, pretending to be modest, should have chosen Good- 
Friday night to advocate impurity! Just as the "intellec- 
tual " development of our society, emancipated from the 
Church, has arrived at the glorious discovery of "Spiritual- 
ism," so the " moral'" development of this age of ours has 
arrived at the deep depth of " free love." 

What is the political spirit of society, and the perfection 
to which it has attained since it has been emancipated from 
the Church ? Why, it has produced the " politician " of our 
day. It has produced the ruler w T ho imagines that he is set 
up r throughout all the nations, only to grasp, — justly, if he 
can, unjustly, if he has no other means, — every privilege of 
power and of absolutism. It has produced in the people an 
unwillingness to obey even just laws. I need not tell you ; 
you have the evidence of your own senses ) you have records 
of the daily actions of the world laid before you every morn- 
ing. This is the issue of the dominant spirit of society, when 
society emancipates itself from the Church, and, by so doing, 
endeavors to shake off Cod. Now we come to the great 
question : Quis medecdbitur f Who shall touch society with a 
scientific and healing hand ? What virtue can we infuse in- 
to it? That must come, I assert, from God, and from Him 
alone, of whom the Scriptures say that " He made the people 
healthy " [fecit populum sandbilem) ; that He has made our 
nature so that, even in its worst infirmity, it is capable of 
cure. He came and found it in its worst infirmity ; society 
rotten to its heart's core 5 and the interior rottenness — the 
obscurity of the intellect — the corruption of the heart — 
manifesting itself in the actions and sins of which St. Paul 
the Apostle says, " JSfec nominabitur in vobis" — that they 
must not be even mentioned among Christian men. Christ, 
the Son of God, because He was God — equal to the Father 
— girding Himself up to the mighty work of healing this 
society, came down from Heaven and cured it, when no other 
hand but His could have touched it with healing • when no 
other virtue or power save His could, at all, have given life 
to the dead world, purity to the corrupt world, light to the 
darkened intellect of man. From Him came life to the dead 
— and that life was light to the darkened and strength to the 
weak, — because He was God. 



1X1 



FA TREE BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Then the nations of Greece and Rome appeared in the 
strength of their power, — proud in their mental culture, — 
proud in the grandeur of their civilization ; — and contemptu- 
ously put away and despised the message of the Divine Faith 
which w T as sent to them ; and for three hundred long years 
persecuted the Church of God. This great instructress, who 
came to talk in a language that they knew not, and to teach 
them things that they never heard of — both the things of 
Heaven and the things of earth 5 — this great instructress, for 
three hundred years, lay hid in the caves and catacombs of 
the earth, afraid to show her face ; for the whole world — all 
the power of Pagan Rome — was raised against her. There 
was blood upon her virgin face ; there was blood upon her 
unspotted bosom — the blood of the innocent and of the pure ; 
and all the world knew of Christianity was the strong testi- 
mony which, from time to time, was given of it, by youth 
and maiden, in the arena of Rome, or in the amphitheatres 
of Antioch or of Corinth. Then, in punishment for their 
pride, — as an act of vengeance upon them for their rejection 
of His gospel, — the Almighty God resolved to break up their 
ancient civilization ; to sweep away their power ; to bring 
the hordes of barbarous nations from the North of Europe 
into the very heart of Rome, the centre of the world's empire, 
and to crush and destroy it with fire and sword, and utterly 
to break up all that society which was formed, of old, upon 
the literature and the philosophy of Greece and of Rome. 
Consequently, we behold, in the fifth century, all the ancient 
civilization completely destroyed, and the world reduced again 
almost to the chaos of barbarism from which the Pagans of 
old had elevated it. Arts and sciences perished, when the 
Goth and Vandal, Visigoth, and Ostrogoth, and Hun swept 
down, like a swarm of locusts, over the old Roman Empire, 
and all the lands subject to Roman sway. Alaric, at the 
head of his Visigoths, was swooping over Rome. He was 
asked to spare the city out of respect to the civilization of 
the w r orld and the tombs of the Apostles ! " I cannot with- 
hold," exclaimed the Visigoth, " I cannot withhold. I hear 
within me a mysterious voice which says : i Alaric ! Alaric ! 
On ! on to Rome ! ? " And so he came and sacked the city, 
burned and destroyed its temples, its palaces, its libraries, 
and its glories of painting and sculpture — hurled them all 
into the dust ! And the desolation spread w T orld-wide 



THE CHUBCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 



115 



wherever a vestige of ancient civilization was found ; until, 
at the end of that fatal century, the Church of God found 
herself standing upon the ruins of a world that had passed 
away. Before her were the countless hordes of the savage 
children of the North, out of which rugged material it was 
her destiny and her office to form the society of modern 
times. Hard, indeed, was the task which she undertook — 
not only to evangelize them — to teach them the things of 
God, but, also to teach them the beauties of human art and 
human science — to soften them with the genial influences 
and the tender appliances of learning ; — to gain their hearts 
and soften their souls, and mollify their manners and refine 
them by every human appliance as well as by every Divine 
influence. For this task did she gather herself up. She, in 
that day, collected with a careful and a venerating hand all 
that remained out of the ruin of ancient literature, of ancient 
poetry, of ancient history, in the languages of Greece and of 
Rome. She gathered them lovingly and carefully to her 
bosom. She laid them up in her sacred recesses, — in her 
cloisters. She applied diligently to the study of them, and 
to the diffusion of them, the minds of the holiest and best of 
her consecrated children ; until, in a few years, all that the 
world had of refinement, of learning, of all that was refining 
and gentle was concentrated in the person of the lowly monk 
who, — full of the lore of Greece and Rome — full of 
ancient learning as well as of that of the time, — an artist — 
a painter — a musician — a man of letters, — covering all with 
the humility of his profession, and hiding all in the cloister, 
— yet treasured all up for the society that was to come after 
him, and for the honor and glory of God and of His Church. 
And so, by degrees, the Church was enabled to found 
schools and, then, colleges, — and thence to form, gradually, 
universities — and to obtain for them and to ensure unto them 
civic and municipal rights, as we shall see farther on. 

By degrees she founded the great mediaeval universities, 
gathering together all those who wished to learn, and sending 
forth from her cloisters her Benedictines and Cistercians, 
her Dominicans, her Franciscans to teach philosophy and 
theology, while they illustrated the very highest art in the 
beauty of their paintings and the splendor which they threw 
around the Christian sciences. Universities were founded by 
her, into which she gathered the youth of various nations; 



116 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



and then sending them home, among their rude and ragged 
fellow-citizens, she spread gradually the flame of human 
knowledge, as well as the fire of divine faith and sanctity. 
And thus, for many a long century, did the Church labor 
assiduously, lovingly, perseveringly • and so secured unto us 
whatever blessings of learning we jDossess to-day. In this way 
she saved society for the time, by drawing forth its rude 
chaotic elements, and by her patient action in creating the 
light of knowledge where the darkness of ignorance was be- 
fore, — with patient and persevering effort bringing forth 
order out of disorder — until her influence over the world was 
like the word of God, when, upon the first day of creation, He 
made all things, and made them to exist where nothing but 
void and darkness were before. Nor can the history of by- 
gone times be disputed in this 5 nor can any man allege that 
I am claiming too much for the Catholic Church, when I 
say that she alone has presented to us all the splendor of the 
Pagan literature of the ancient times, — all the arts and sci- 
ences 5 that she alone has founded the great schools and 
universities of Christendom and of the civilized world — even 
in Protestant countries to-day; — nay more, that nearly all 
the great scholars who shone as stars in the firmament of 
learning w r ere her children, — either consecrated to her in the 
priesthood, or attached to her by the strongest and the 
tenderest bonds of faith. Lest my word in this matter be 
considered exaggerated, let me read for you the testimony of 
a Protestant writer to w r hat I say. He says to us : 

" If the Catholic Church had done nothing more than to 
preserve for us, by painful solicitude and unrewarded toil, the 
precepts and intellectual treasures of Greece and Rome, she 
would have been entitled to our everlasting gratitude. But 
her hierarchy did not merely preserve these treasures. They 
taught the modern w T orld how to use them. We can never 
forget that at least nine out of every ten of all the great col- 
leges and universities in Christendom were founded by monks 
or priests, bishops or archbishops. This is true of the most 
famous institutions in Protestant as well as in Catholic coun- 
tries. And equally undeniable is the fact that the greatest 
discoveries in the sciences and in the arts (with the sole 
exception of Sir Isaac Newton) have been made either by 
Catholics, or by those who were educated by them. Our 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 117 



readers know that Copernicus, the author of our present sys- 
tem of astronomy, lived and died a poor parish priest, in an 
obscure village ; and Galileo lived and died a Catholic. The 
great Kepler, although a Protestant himself, always acknow- 
ledged that he received the most valuable part of his educa- 
tion from the monks and priests. It were easy to add to 
these illustrious names many equally renowned in other 
departments of science as well as literature and the arts, 
including those of statesmen, orators, historians, poets, and 
artists." 

This is the testimony of a Protestant writer, confirmed by 
the voice of history, to which I fearlessly appeal, when I lay 
down the proposition that, if the intellectual darkness, if the 
barbarism of ignorance be a disease in society, then history 
proves that the^ Catholic Church has been the salvation of 
society in the cure of that disease. I might go deeper here. 
I might show you here, in the beautiful reasoning of the great 
St. Thomas Aquinas, how, in the Catholic Church alone, is 
the solid basis of all intellectual knowledge. "For," ob- 
serves the Saint, "every science, no matter how different it 
may be from others, — every science rests upon certain 
principles that are taken for granted — certain axioms that are 
accepted, without being proved. Now," he goes on to 
say, " the principle of acknowledged certainty, of some kind 
or other, lies at the base and at the foundation of every 
science, and of every form of intellectual power." But, in the 
sciences and in the intellectual world, we find the same order, 
the same exquisite harmony, which, in the w T orks of God, we 
find in the material and physical creation. The principle, 
therefore, of all the arts and sciences, each with its respective 
power, is that all go up in regular order from the lowest form 
of ait to the highest of human sciences, — astronomy, — until 
they touch divine theology, which teaches of God and of the 
things of God. Upon the certainty of that First Science de- 
pends the very idea of " certainty," upon which every other 
science is based. And, therefore, the keynote of all know- 
ledge is found in the science of divine theology, which teaches 
of God. Now, outside of the Catholic Church, there is no 
theology, as a science; because science involves certain know- 
ledge — and there is no certain knowledge of divine things 
outside the Catholic Church. There is no certain knowledge 



118 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSE'S. 



of Divine tilings where truth is said to consist in the inquiry 
after truth, as in Protestantism, where religion is reduced 
from the principle of immutable faith to the mere result of 
reasoning, amounting to a strong opinion. There is no 
certainty, therefore, outside of that Church that speaks of 
God in the very language of God,* that gives a message sent 
from the very lips of God ; that puts that message into the 
Godlike form of immutable dogma before the minds of His 
children, and so starts them in the pursuit of all human know- 
ledge, with the certain light of divinely-revealed truth, and 
with the principle of certitude deeply seated in their minds. 

Now, Ave pass from the intellectual view of society to the 
moral view of it. In order to understand the action of the 
Church here as the sole salvation of society, I must ask you 
to consider the dangers which threaten society in its moral 
aspect. These dangers are the following : — First of all, the 
libertinism, the instability, the inconstancy, and the impurity 
of man. Secondly, the absence of the element of holiness 
and sanctity in the education of childhood. Thirdly, the sense 
of irresponsibility, or a personal liberty which not only passes 
us over from under the control of the law, but cuts off our 
communication with God, and makes us forget that we are 
responsible to God for every action of our lives ; and so, 
gradually brings a man to believe that liberty and freedom 
mean irresponsible licentiousness and impurity. These I 
hold to be the three great evils that threaten society. The 
inconstancy of man • — for man is fickle in his friendship, is 
unstable in his love, is inconstant in his affections, subject to 
a thousand passing sensations ; — his soul laid open to appeals 
from every sense, — to the ebb and flow of every pulse • 
and every sense of his for ever palpitating with a quick 
response to every impression telling the eye to look with 
pleasure upon this object, as amusing ; to the ear, telling it 
to drink in with pleasure such and such a sound of melody • 
— and so on. Need I tell you, my friends, what your own 
heart has so often told you — how inconstant we are • how 
the thing that captivates us to-day, we will look coldly upon 
to-morrow, and the next day, perhaps with eyes of disgust ? 
Need. I tell you how fickle is that love, that friendship of the 
human heart, against which, and its inconstancy, the Holy 
Ghost seems to warn us ? " Put not thy trust in Princes, nor 
in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation." To 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 119 



guard against this inconstancy, it is necessary to call in divine 
grace and help from Heaven. For it is a question of confirm- 
ing the heart of man in the steadiness, in the unchangeable- 
ness, and in the parity of the love that is to last all his life 
long. Therefore it is that the Catholic Church sanctifies the 
solemn contract by which man promises to his fellow-creature 
that he will love her ; that he will never allow that love for 
her to grow cold in his bosom • that he will never allow even 
a thought of anv other love than hers to cross his imagination 
or enter his soul, that he will love her in the days of her old 
age as he loves her to-day in the freshness of her beauty as 
she stands by his side before the altar of God, and puts tier 
virgin hand into his.. And she swears to him a corresponding 
love. But ah ! who can assure to her that heart which 
promises to be hers to-day — who can insure to her that 
love, ever inconstant in its own nature, and acted upon by a 
thousand influences, — calculated, first to alienate, then to 
destroy it ? How can she have the courage to believe that 
the word that passes from that man's lips, at the altar, 
shall never be regretted— never be repealed ? I answer, 
the Catholic Church comes in and calls down a special sac- 
ramental grace from Heaven 5 lets in the very blood of the 
Saviour, in its sacramental form, to touch these two hearts, 
and by purifying them, to elevate their affection into some- 
thing more than gross love of sense, and to shed upon those 
two hearts, thus united, the rays of divine grace, to tinge 
their lives somewhat with the light of that ineffable love that 
binds the Lord to His Church. And so, in that sacrament 
of matrimony, the Church provides a divine remedy for the 
inconstancy of the heart of man ; and she also provides a 
sanctifying influence which, lying at the very fountain-head, 
and source, and spring of our nature, sanctifies the whole stream 
of society that flows from the sacramental and sanctifying 
love of Christian marriage. 

Do you not know that this society, in separating itself 
from the Church, has literally destroyed itself? If Protest- 
antism, or Unitarianism, or any other form of error, did 
nothing else than simply to remove from the Sacrament of 
Matrimony its sacramental character — its sanctifying grace 
— by that very act, that error of religious unbelief, it 
destroys society. The man who destroys, in the least degree, 
the firmness of the bond that can never be broken, — because 



120 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



it is bound by the hand of God, and sealed with the sacra- 
mental seal, — the man that touches that bond, the man that 
takes from that Sacrament one single iota of its grace, makes 
himself thereby the enemy of society, and pollutes the very 
fountain-head from which the stream of our life comes. 
"When the prophet of old came into the city of Jericho, they 
showed him the stream that ran by the city walls 5 and 
they told him : " Here is a stream of water : whoever drinks 
of that water dies ; our people are dying either of thirst or 
of the poisoned waters."' He did not attempt to heal the 
stream as it flowed thereby 5 but he took to himself salt, 
and he blessed that salt, and he said to the people — "Bring 
me to the fountain out of which this river cometh." And 
they brought him up into the mountain • and they showed 
him the fountain-head of the stream. "Here," he said, 
" here must we heal it." He put the blessed salt into 
the fountain, the spring from which the stream came, and he 
said : " Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters, 
and there shall no more be in them death or bitterness." 
Thus he purified the fountain-head of the spring of the 
waters of Jericho. Such is the Sacrament of Marriage 
to human society. The future of the world, the moral 
future of mankind — of the rising generations — depend upon 
the purity and the sanctity of the matrimonial tie. There 
does the Church of God throw, as it were, her sacramental 
salt of grace into the fountain-head of our nature, and so 
sanctities the humanity that springs from its source. 

The next great moral influence of society which requires 
the Church's action, is Education. " The child," as you 
know, " is father to the man 5 " and what the child is to-day 
the man will be in twenty or thirty years' time. Xow, the 
young soul of the child is like the earth in the Spring sea- 
son. The time of childhood is the time of sowing and of 
planting. Whatever is put into that young heart in the 
early days of childhood, will bring up, in the Summer of 
manhood, and in the Autumn of old age, its crop, either of 
good or evil. And, therefore, it is the most important time 
of life. The future of the world depends upon the sanctity 
of education. Xow, in order that education may be bad. it 
is not necessary, my friends, to teach the child any thing bad. 
In order to make education bad, it is quite enough to neglect 
the element of sanctity and of religion. It is quite enough 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY, 121 

to neglect the religious portion of the education. By that 
very defect the education becomes bad. And why ? Because, 
such is our nature, such the infimiity of our fallen state, such 
is the atmosphere of the scenes in which we live in this 
world, such the power of the infernal agencies that are busily 
at work for our destruction, that, educate the child as care- 
fully as you may, surround him with the holiest influences, 
fill him with the choicest graces, you still ran great risks that, 
some day or other, the serpent of sin will gain an entrance 
into that young soul, in spite of you. How much more if 
that young heart be not replenished with divine grace ! 
How much more if that young soul be not fenced around 
by a thousand appliances and a thousand defences against 
its enemies ! And thus do we see that the principle of bad 
education is established the moment the strong religious 
element is removed. Hence it is that, out of the sanctity of 
marriage, springs the sanctity of education in the Catholic 
Church. And why ? Because the Church of God proclaims 
that the marriage bond no man can dissolve ; that that marriage 
bond,— so long as death does not come in to separate the 
man and wife,— that that marriage bond is the one contract 
which no power on this earth can dissolve. Consequently, 
the Catholic woman, married to the Catholic man, knows 
that the moment their lips mutually pronounce their marriage 
vows, her position is defined and established for evermore : 
that no one can put her down from the holy eminence of 
wife or of mother, and that the throne which she occupies in 
the household, she never can live to see occupied by another ; 
that her children are assured to her, and that she is left in her 
undisputed empire and control over them. She knows that 
— no matter how the word may prosper or otherwise with her 
— she is sure, at least, of her position as a wife, and of her 
claims to her husband's love, and of the allegiance of his 
worship. She knows that even though she may have wedded 
him in the days of poverty, and that should he rise to some 
great and successful position, — even if he became an emperor, 
— she must rise with him, and that he can never discard her ; 
and, consequently, she feels that her position and her children 
are her own for ever. Now, the element of sanctity in the 
family, even when the husband is a good man, — even when 
he is a sacrament-going man, as every Catholic man ought to 
be, — ve ^ the element of sanctity in the family, and for the 

6 



122 



FAIRER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



family, lies with the woman. It is the duty and privilege 
of the mother. She has the children under her eye and 
under her care the livelong day. She has the formation 
of them, — of their character — their first sentiments, thoughts, 
and works, either for good or evil, The seed to be 
planted, — the formation of the soul, — is in the mother's 
hands ; and therefore it is that the character of the child 
mainly depends on the formation which the mother gives 
it. The father is engaged in his office, in keeping his 
business, or at his work all the day long. His example, 
whether for good or bad, is not constantly before the eyes — 
the observant eyes — of the child, as is the example of the 
mother. And so it is, my friends, that all depends upon the 
mother ; and it is of vital importance that that mother should 
blend in herself all that is pure, holy, tender, and loving, and 
that she be assured of the sanctity of her position, of which 
the Church assures her by the indissoluble nature of the 
marriage tie. 

Again the Church of God follows the child into the school, 
and she puts before the young eye, even before reason has 
opened — she puts before the young sense the sight of things 
that will familiarize the mind of the child with Heaven and 
with heavenly thoughts. She goes before the world, antici- 
pates reason, and tries to get the start of that " mystery of 
iniquity ,? which, sooner or later, lying in the world, shall be 
revealed to the eyes and the soul of this young child. Hence 
it is that, in her system of education, she endeavors to mix up 
sacramental graces, lessons of good, pictures of divine things, 
holy statues, little prayers, singing of hymns, — all these 
religious appliances, — and endeavors to mingle them all, con- 
stantly and largely, with every element of human education, 
that the heart may be formed as well as the mind, and that 
the will may be strengthened as well as the intellect and the 
soul of man. If, then, the evil of a bad education be one of 
the evils of society, I hold that the Church, in her scheme 
and plan of education, proves that she is the salvation of 
society by touching that evil with a healing hand. 

The next great evil affecting the morals of society, is the 
sense of irresponsibility. A man outside the Catholic 
Church is never expected to call himself to account for his 
actions. If he speaks evil words, if he thinks evil thoughts, 
if he does wrong things, the most that he aspires to is a 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 123 



momentary thought of God. Perhaps he forms a kind of 
resolution not to do these things any more. But there is no 
excruciating self-examination 5 there 4s no humiliating con- 
fession ; there is no care or thought upon motives for sorrow; 
there is no painstaking to acquire a firm resolution ; there 
are none of the restraints against a return to sin with which 
the sacramental agencies of the Catholic Church, especially 
through the Sacrament of Penance, have made us all familiar. 
The Catholic man feels that the eye of God is upon him. 
He is told this every time the Catholic Church warns him to 
prepare for confession. He is told this every time his eyes, 
wandering through the church, rest upon the confessional. 
He is told this every time he sees the priest standing there, 
with his stole on, and the penitent going in with tearful eyes, 
and coming forth with eyes beaming with joy and with 
the delight of forgiveness. He is told this in a thousand 
ways ) and it is brought home to him by the precepts and 
Sacraments of the Church at stated times in the year. The 
consequence is that he is made to believe that he is responsi- 
ble to Almighty God ; and therefore this obligation, creating 
a sense of responsibility, arouses and excites this watchful- 
ness of his own conscience. The man who feels that the eye 
of God is upon him will also feel that the eye of his own 
conscience is upon him. For watchfulness begets watchful- 
ness. If the master is looking on while a servant is doing 
any thing, the servant will endeavor to do it well, and he 
will keep his eye upon the master while the master is 
present. So, a soldier, when he is ordered to charge, turns 
his look upon his superior officer, while he dashes into the 
midst of the foe. And so it is with us. Conscience is cre- 
ated j conscience is fostered and cherished in the soul by a 
sense of responsibility which Almighty God gives us through 
the Church and through her Sacraments. What follows 
from this ? It follows that the Catholic man, although in 
conscious freedom, is conscious that he must always exercise 
that freedom under the eye of God and under the dominion 
of His law 5 so that in him, even although he be a sinner for 
a time, the sense of freedom never degenerates into positive 
recklessness or license. 

Finally, — in the political view of society, — the dangers that 
threaten the world from this aspect, are, first of all — abso- 
lutism and injustice, and oppression in rulers ; and, secondly, 



124 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



a spirit of rebellion, even against just and established 
government, among the governed. For the well-ordering of 
society lies in this : That he who governs respects those 
whom he governs ; and that those who are governed by him 
recognize in him only the authority that comes to him from 
God. I say from God. I do not wish here, or now, to enter 
into the question as to the source of power, and how far the 
popular element may or may not be tjiat source ; but I do 
say that where the power exists, — even where the ruler is 
chosen by the people, — that he exercises that power, 
then, as an official of the Almighty God, to whom 
belongs the government of the whole system which He 
has created. If that ruler abuses his power, — abuses it 
excessively ; — if he despises those whom he governs ; — if 
he has not respect for their rights, their privileges and their 
consciences, — then the balance of power is lost, and the 
great evil of political society is inaugurated. If, on the other 
hand, the people, — fickle and inconstant, — do not recognize 
any sacredness at all in their ruler • if they do not recog- 
nize the principle of obedience to law as a divine principle, 
— as a necessary principle, without which the world cannot 
live 5 if they think that among the rights of man — of indi- 
vidual man — is the right to rise in rebellion against authority 
and law, — the second great evil of political society is devel- 
oped, and the whole machinery of the world's government is 
broken to pieces. What is necessary to remedy this ? A 
power — mark my words — a power recognized to be greater 
than that of the people or than that of the people's govern- 
ment. A power, wielded not only over the subject, but over 
the monarch. A power, appealing with equal force and 
equal authority to him who is upon the throne, to him who 
is at the head of armies and empires, and to the meanest and 
the poorest and the lowest of his subjects. What power has 
that been in history ? Look back for eighteen hundred 
years. What power is it that has been exercised over baron 
and chieftain, king and ruler, no matter how dark the times, — 
no matter how convulsed society was, — no matter how con- 
fused every element of government was, — no matter how 
rude and barbarous the manners of men, — no matter how 
willing they were to assert themselves, in the fulness of their 
pride and savage power, in field and in council ? What 
power was it that was acknowledged and obeyed by them, 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 125 



during twelve hundred years, from the close of the Roman 
persecutions till the outbreak of Protestantism ? What 
power was it that told the monarchs of the middle ages that, 
if they imposed an oppressive or unjust tax upon the people, 
they were excommunicated ? What power was it that arose 
to tell Philip Augustus of France, in all the lust of his 
greatness and his undisputed sway, that, if he did not respect 
the rights of his one wife, and adhere to her chastely, he 
would be excommunicated by the Church, and abandoned 
by his people ? What power was it that confronted the 
voluptuous tyrant seated on the Tudor's throne in England, 
.and told him that, unless he were faithful to the poor perse- 
cuted woman, Catherine of Arragon, his lawful wife, he 
should be cut off as a rotten branch, and cast — by the 
sentence of the Church — into hell-fire ? What power was it 
that made the strongest and most tyrannical of these rude 
mediaeval chieftains, kings, and emperors, tremble before it? 
Ah, it was the power of the Vatican. It was the voice of 
the Church, upholding the rights of the people ; sheltering 
them with its strong arm, proclaiming that no injustice 
should be done to them ; that the rights of the poorest man 
in the community were as sacred as the rights of him who 
sat upon the throne 5 and, therefore, that she would not 
stand by and see the people oppressed. An ungrateful 
world is this of ours to-day, that forgets that the Catholic 
Church was the power that inaugurated, established, and 
obtained all those civic and municipal rights, all those 
rights, respecting communities, which have formed the 
basis of what we call our modern civilization ! Ungrate- 
ful age ! that reflects not, or chooses to forget, that the 
greatest freedom the people ever enjoyed in this world, 
they enjoyed so long as they were under the aegis of 
the Church's protection 5 that never were the Italians so free 
as they were in the mediaeval Republics of Genoa, Pisa, 
Lucca, and Florence ; that never were the Spaniards so free 
as when their Cortes, as the ruling voice of the nation, was 
heard resounding in the ears of their monarchs, and respected 
by them 5 that never were the English so free as when a 
Saint was their ruler 5 or, that when a demon in mortal shape 
clutched the sceptre, an Archbishop of Canterbury, with the 
knights of the realm closed around him, told him they would 
abandon him and depose him, unless he gave to the people 



126 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



that charter which is the foundation of the most glorious 
constitution in the world. And thus, I answer, the Church 
maintained the rights of the people, whenever those -rights 
were unjustly invaded by those who were in power. 

But, to the people, in their turn, this Church has always 
preached patience, docility, obedience to law, legitimate 
redress, when redress was required. She has always 
endeavored to calm their spirits, and to keep them back, even 
under great and sore oppression, from the remedy which the 
world's history tells us has always been worse than the 
disease which it has attempted to cure — viz. : the remedy of 
rebellion and revolution. 

Such is the history of the Church's past. Have I not 
said with truth, that the Church is the salvation of society ; 
that she formed society ; that she created what we call the 
society of our day ; and that, if it had not been for her, a 
large percentage of all that forms the literature of our time, 
would not now be in existence? The most powerful 
restraints, the most purifying influences that have 
operated upon society for so many centuries, would 
not have sent clown their blessings to us ; blessings 
that have been inherited, even by those who under- 
stood them so little that their very first act, in separating 
from the Church, was to lay the axe at the very root of 
society, by depriving the Sacrament of Matrimony of its 
sacramental and indispensably necessary force. In like 
manner, have I not proved that, if there be a vestige of free- 
dom, with the proper assertion of right, in the world to-day, 
it can be traced distinctly to the generating and forming 
action of the Catholic Church during those ages of faith 
when the world permitted itself to be moulded and fashioned 
by her hands? And, as she was in the past, so must she be 
in the future. Shut your eyes to her truths : every principle 
of human science will feel the shock * and the science of 
sciences will feel it first, — the science of the knowledge of 
God, and of the things which He has given us. What is the 
truth ? Is it not a mere matter of fact, known by personal 
observation to many among us, that the Protestant idea of 
sin involves infidelity, — that is to say, a denial of the divinity 
of Christ, of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and of the 
existence of God? What is the Protestant idea of the 
sinner? We have it, for instance, in their own description 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 127 



of the Elder's death-bed. His son was a sinner. He comes 
to the father's bedside. He is broken with grief, seeing that 
his father is drying before his eyes. The father seizes the 
opportunity to tell the erring son : " Remember that Christ 
died for our sins, and that Christ was the son of God." He 
begins then to teach what a Catholic would consider the very 
first elements of the catechism. But to him they were the 
conclusions of a long life of study ; and he has arrived, now, 
at the end of his days, at the very point at which the little 
Catholic child starts when he is seven years of age. Now, 
in the Catholic Church, these things, — which are the result of 
careful inquiry, hard study, the conclusions of years, perhaps. 
— being admitted as first principles, the time which is lost 
by the Protestant in arriving at these principles, is employed 
by the Catholic in applying them to the conduct and the 
actions of his daily life, — in avoiding this danger or that, 
repenting of this sin or that, praying against this evil or 
that, — and so on. Shut your eyes to the truths of Catholic 
teaching, and the divine Scriptures themselves, on which you 
fancy, perhaps, that you are building up your religion, are 
shaken from their pedestal of a sure definition, and nothing 
remains but her reassuring power — even to the inspiration of 
God's written word. Is not this true ? Where, during the 
fifteen hundred years that preceded Protestantism, — where 
do we read of the inspiration of the Scriptures being called 
in question? Where do we read of an 3^ theologian omitting 
this phrase, leaving out that sentence, because it did not 
tally with his particular views? He knew that he might as 
well seek to tie up the hands of God as to change one iota or 
syllable of God's revealed truth. But what do we see during 
the last three hundred years ? Luther began by rejecting the 
Epistle of St. James, calling it " an epistle of straw," because 
there were certain doctrines there that did not suit him. 
From his time, every Protestant theologian has found fault 
with this passage or that of Scripture, as if it w T as a thing 
that could be changed and turned and forced and shaped to 
answer this purpose or that ; — as if the word of God could be 
made to veer about, north, east, south, and west — according 
to human wishes 5 — until at length, in our own day, they 
have undertaken a new version of the Scriptures altogether. 
And this is quietly going on in one great section of the 
Church of England ) while another great section of the 



1-28 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Church of England disputes its authority altogether, and 
tells you that the doctrinal part of it is only a rule to guide, 
and that the historical part of it is nothing more than a 
myth, like the history of the ancient Paganism of Greece and 
of Rome ! They discard the Church's action upon the 
morality of society; tell her that they do not believe her 
when she says : " Accursed is the man or woman that puts 
a divorce into his or her partner's hand." They tell her that 
they do not believe her when she says : " No matter what 
the conduct of either party is, I cannot break the bond that 
God has made ; — no matter what may be the difference of 
disposition ; — no matter what the weariness that springs from 
the union, I cannot dissolve it, I cannot alter it." If you 
dissolve it, I ask you in all earnestness to what you reduce 
yourselves ? To what does the married woman reduce her- 
self? She becomes (I blush to say it,) a creature living 
under the sufferance and the caprices of her husband. You 
know how easy it is to trump up an accusation ! You have 
but to defame that which is so delicate and so tender as a 
woman's name ; — a gentle and a tender and a pure woman's 
good name is tainted and destroyed by a breath. No matter 
how unfounded the calumny or the slander, how easy it is 
first to defame and then to destroy it ! At the time 
when the Protestant Church was called upon by the 
people in England to admit the lawfulness of divorce, the 
Catholic Church raised up her voice in defence of truth, 
and warned England that she was going into a deeper 
abyss, — warned the people that they were going to de- 
stroy whatever sanctity of society remained among them, 
— warned them that there was an anathema upon the measure 
— upon those who proposed it — upon those who aided it. I 
remember at that time a poor woman in Ireland, — indeed she 
was almost a beggar in her poverty, — asking of me; " Is it 
true, your Reverence, they are going to make a law in 
England to let the husband and wife separate from one 
another and go and marry other people ? " " Yes, " I said. 
"Well, I hope," she said, "we will not be included in 
that law?" "Oh, no; not at all," I said. "You are 
all right." " Glory be to God ! " she said, " I never 
knew before the happiness of being a Catholic. I would 
rather be married to my Jimmy, and be sure of him, than 
to the first nobleman in England: for he might come to 



THE CHURCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 129 



me to-morrow and tell me to go out and take the children 
with me!" 

Such is the Church's action on the morale of society. 
Tell her to shut up her confessionals ; tell her that her priests, 
sitting in those tribunals, are blasphemous usurpers of a 
power that God has never given to man. What follows from 
this? my friends, do you think that you, or that any of 
you would be better men if you were absolved to-morrow 
from all obligation of ever going to confession again? Do 
you think you would draw nearer to God ? Would you look 
more sharply after yourselves ? Do you not think that even 
those very human agencies — the humiliation, the painstaking 
of preparation, the violent effort to get out whatever we must 
confess, — do you not think all these things are a great re- 
straint upon a man, and that they help to keep him pure, in- 
dependent altogether of the higher argument of an offended 
God, — of the crucified Lord bleeding again at the sight of 
our sins ? Most assuredly they are. Most assuredly that 
man will endeavor to serve God with greater purity, with 
greater carefulness, — will endeavor to remember the precept 
of the Saviour, "You must watch and pray, that you enter 
not into temptation," — when he is called from time to time to 
sweep the chambers of his own soul, to wash and purify 
every corner of his own heart, to analyze his motives, call 
himself to account, even for his thoughts and words ; — 
examine his relations in regard to honesty, in regard to charity 
with his neighbor; — examine himself how he fulfils his 
duties as a father, or as a husband, as the case may be ; — 
that the man, who is obliged to do this, is more likely to 
serve God in purity and watchfulness, than the man who 
never, from the cradle to the grave, is asked even to consider 
the necessity of taking a few minutes' thought and asking 
himself, "How do I stand with God?" Remove this action 
of the Church upon the good conduct of society; and then 
you will have, indeed, the work which was accomplished, 
and which is reaping its fulfilment to-day, — the work of the 
so-called great Reformer, Martin Luther, who has brought it 
to this pass, that the world itself is groaning under the 
weight of its own iniquities 5 and society rises up and ex- 
claims that its very heart within it is rotted by social evil. 

Disturb the action of the Church upon political society, 
and what guarantee have you for the future ? You may see 



130 



FA TRJEE B URKE'S DISCO UBSES. 



from the past what is to be in the future ; for, when Luther 
broached his so-called " Reformation," the principle upon 
which he went was that the Catholic Church had no busi- 
ness to be an universally Catholic body ; that she should 
break herself up into national Churches, — the Church of 
Germany, the Church of England, the Church of France, the 
Church of America, and so on. And, in fact, Protestantism, 
to this day, in England, is called the Church of England. — 
The necessary consequence that immediately followed was that 
the King, if it was a Kingdom, or the President, if it was a 
Republic, — no matter who he may be, — became the head of the 
Church — if it was a national Church — as well as the head of 
the nation. The two powers were concentrated in him — one 
as Governor — head of the State ; the other as the head of the 
national Church. He became king over the consciences of 
the people, as well as ruler of their external actions. He 
was to make laws for the soul as well as for the body. 
He was to .tell them what they were to believe and how 
they were to pray, as well as to tell them their duties as 
citizens. He was to lead them to Heaven ! The man 
who led his armies in the battle-field was then to per- 
suade his people that the way to Heaven lay through rapine 
and through blood! But so it was. And, strange to say, in 
every nation in Europe that accepted Protestantism, the 
monarch became a tyrant at once. The greatest tyrant that 
ever governed England was the man who introduced Protest- 
antism. So long as Henry the Eighth was a Catholic, — 
although he was a man of terrible passions, — still, the 
Church, reminding him of his soul, bringing him occasionally 
to ^ the Confessional, trying to shake him out of his iniqui- 
ties, — had some control over him ; and he conquered his 
passions, and kept himself honorable and pure. The moment 
that this man cast off his allegiance to the Church, — the very 
day he proclaimed that he was emancipated from the Pope, 
and did not believe in the Pope or acknowledge him any 
more, — that very day he turns to Anne Boleyn, takes and 
proclaims her his wife, — Catherine, his rightful wife, still 
living 5 and, in a few days, when his heart grew tired of 
Anne, and his eyes were attracted by some other beauty, he 
sent Anne to the block, and had her head cut off- — and he . 
took another lady in her place : and, in a short time, he cut 
off her head, also. And so, Gustavus Yasa, of Sweden, when 



THE C3UBCH THE SALVATION OF SOCIETY. 131 



be became a Protestant, at once assumed and became the 
bead of an absolute monarchy. The very kings of the 
Catholic countries imitated their Protestant confreres in this 
respect ; for we find the Catholic m on arch s of Spain cutting* 
off the ancient privileges of the people in the Cortes, say- 
ing :— - u I am the State ; and every man must obey ! ;; It is 
quite natural. The more power you give into a man's hand, 
the more absolute he becomes. The more you concentrate 
in him the spiritual as well as the temporal power, the more 
audaciously will he exercise both temporal and spiritual 
power, and the more likely is it that you are building up in 
that man a tyrant — and a merciless tyrant — to oppress you. 
Prom the day that society emancipated itself, by Protestant- 
ism, from the action of the Church, revolution, rebellion, 
uprising against authority, became the order of the day ; 
until at length society is" honeycombed with secret associa- 
tions which swear eternal enmity, not only to the altar, but 
to the throne. 

And so, my dear friends, we see that we cannot move 
without the Church of God; that nations may go on for a 
time, and may be upheld by material prosperity ; but with- 
out a surer basis they will certainly be overthrown. The 
moments are coming, and coming rapidly, when all the 
society of this world, that wishes to be saved, will have to 
cry out with a mighty voice to the Catholic Church. Per- 
secuted, despised, to-day, she will yet come, — with her light 
of truth — with her sanctifying influences, — with her glorious 
dominion over king and subject, — to save them from the ruin 
which they have brought upon their own heads. Then will, 
be the day of grace for man, — the day of the world's neces- 
sity. And when that day comes, — and I behold it now in 
my mental vision, -^-tiiis uprising of the whole world in the 
hands of the Church, — it will bring peace, security, and joy 
to society. I see thee, glorious spouse of Christ ! — 
Mother Church, I see thee seated once more, in the councils 
of the nations,' guiding them with a divinely-infused light 
— animating them with thy spirit of justice ! 1 see, mother, 
as, of old, I saw a glorious city rise out of the ruins 
of the G-oth and Visigoth and Vandal: so out of the 
men of this day, — relapsing into chaos through neglect of 
thee, — do I behold thee forming the glorious citv that shall 
be ; a society in which men shall be loyal and brave, truth- 



13-2 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



ful, pure, and holy ; a city in which the people shall grow up 
formed by thee for God ; a city in which all men, governors 
and governed, shall admit the supremacy of law, the sanctity 
of principle, the omnipotence of justice ! And, Mother, 
in the day when that retribution comes — in that day of the 
world's necessity — the triple crown shall shine again upon 
the brows of thy chief, — Peter's successor and the Vicar of 
Christ ; upon that honored brow shall shine forth again the 
triple crown, — the most ancient and the holiest in the world ; 
the Prince of Peace shall extend his sceptre over the nations 5 
and every man shall rejoice in a new life ! 



THE RESURRECTION. 



[A sermon preached by the Very Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in the church 
of St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, on Easter Sunday, April 7, 1872. ] 

" And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalen, and Mary, the 
mother of James and Salome, bought sweet spices, that, coming, they 
might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of 
the week, they came to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And 
they said one to another, Who shall roll us back the stone from the 
door of the sepulchre? And, looking, they saw the stone rolled back ; 
for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a 
young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe. And 
they were astonished. And he said to them : Be not affrighted. You 
seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen ; He is not 
here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But, go; tell His dis- 
ciples and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee. There you 
shall see Him, as He told you." 

Dearly Beloved Brethren: We are told, in the 
history of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we 
have been considering during the past few days, that, after 
our Saviour had yielded up His spirit upon the cross, Joseph 
of Arimathea went to Pilate and demanded the body of the 
Lord. Pilate was surprised to hear that our Divine Lord 
was already dead. And yet, if he had only consulted his 
own memory, and remembered how the life was almost 
scourged out of the Saviour by the hands of the soldiers, it 
would not have seemed to him so wonderful that the three 
hours of agony should have closed that life. He sent to inquire 
if He was already dead ) and gave orders that, in case He 
was dead, Joseph of Arimathea and Mcodemus were to 
take possession of His body. They came, sorrowing, and 
again climbed the Hill of Calvary ; and, lest there might 
be any doubt that the Master was dead, the soldier 
drove his lance once through the heart of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Then the body was taken down from the 
cross. They took out the nails, gently and tenderly; 
and they handed them down, and they were put into 
the hands of the Virgin Mother. They took the body 
reverently from its high gibbet, and laid the thorn-crowned 



134 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



head upon the bosom of the Virgin, who waited to receive it. 
With her own hands she removed these thorns from His 
brow ; and the fountain of tears, that had been dried up be- 
cause of the greatness of her sorrow, flows now. and rains 
the Virgin's tears upon the stained and disfigured face of 
her child. Then they brought Him to a garden in the 
neighborhood ; and there they laid Him in the tomb. It 
was another man's grave ; and He, the Lord, had no right 
to it. But He died so poor, that, even in death, He had 
no place whereon to lay His head, until charity opened 
another man's tomb for Him. There they laid Him down ; 
covered with blood and with wounds — all disfigured and 
deformed, they laid Him down, like the patriarch of old, 
with a stone for His pillow ; and upon that stone they laid 
the wounded and the blessed head of the Lord. They closed 
the sepulchre. Mary, the mother, gathered up the thorns, the 
nails, the instruments with which her child was so cruelly 
maimed and put to death ; and with them pressed to her 
heart, and leaning upon her newly-found son. John, she 
returned to her sad home in Jerusalem; and all, having 
adored, silently dispersed; for the evening was coming that 
brought the Sabbath. One only remained. The heart- 
broken Magdalen lay down outside the tomb, and laid her 
head upon the stone which they had rolled against the Mas- 
ter's grave. There, she knew, He lay; and the instinct of 
her love, and of her sorrow, was so strong that she could 
not go away from the tomb of her Lord, but remained there, 
weeping and alone. Whilst she wept, evening deepened into 
night ; and alone, the heart-broken lover of Jesus Christ 
saw that she must rise and depart. She rose. She kissed, 
again and again, that great stone that enclosed her Divine 
Saviour; and, turning to the city, she heard the heavy, 
measured tread of the soldiers, who came with the night to 
guard the tomb. They closed around the tomb. With rude- 
ness and with violence they drove the woman away — wonder- 
ing at her tears, and the evidence of her broken heart. And 
then, piling their arms and then spears, they settled down to the 
night-watch, cautioned not to sleep — cautioned to take care not 
to let a human being come near that grave until the morning 
light. Excited by their own superstitious fears and emotions 
(for it was, indeed, a strange office for these warriors to be set 
on guard over a dead man), agitated by the strangeness of their 



THE RESURRECTION. 



135 



position, excited by their fears, they slept not, bat, waiting 
the night, watchfully, diligently, and with vigilance, they 
guard on the right hand and on the left; scarcely knowing 
who was to come; fearing with an undefined fear; thinking 
that, perhaps, it was to be a phantom, a spirit, an evil thing 
of the night coming upon them ; and ever ready to grasp 
their arms, and put themselves on their defence. 

The night fell, deep and heavy, over the tomb of Jesus 
Christ. The whole of that night, and of the following day, 
they kept their watch. Mary, the mother, was in Jerusalem. 
Kneeling before these instruments of the passion, she spent 
the whole of that night, and the whole of the following Sab- 
bath-day, weeping over those thorns and over those nails ; 
contemplating them, examining them, and seeing, from the 
evidence of the blood that was upon them, how deeply they 
had been struck into the brow, and into the hands and feet 
of Jesus, her divine child ; her heart breaking within her, as 
every glance at these terrible instruments of the Passion 
brought up all the horrors which she had witnessed on that 
morning of Friday, on the Mount of Calvary. The women 
kept watch and ward round her ,* and so terrible was the 
mother's grief, that even the Magdalen was silenced and 
hushed, and dared not obtrude one word of consolation upon 
the Virgin's ear. 

The Sabbath passed away. Dull and heavy the black 
cloud that had settled over Calvary and over J erusalem, was 
lifted up. Men walked about with fear and with trembling. 
The sun seemed to have scarcely risen that Sabbath morning. 
The dead who started from their graves the moment Jesus 
gave his last cry on the cross, flitted in the darkening night 
to and fro in the silent streets of Jerusalem. Men beheld the 
awful vision of these skeleton bodies that rose from the 
grave. A fire, as of vengeance and of fury, seemed to glare 
in the empty sockets in their heads. They showed their 
white teeth, gnashing, as it would seem, over the crime that 
the people had committed. They flitted to and fro. All 
Jerusalem was filled with fear and terror. No man spoke 
above his breath, and all was silent during that long Sabbath 
day, that brought no joy, because the people had called down 
the blood of the Saviour upon their heads. 

The Sabbath day 'and evening had closed; and again 
night was recumbent upon the earth. The guard is relieved. 



136 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Fresh soldiers are put at the doors. They are again cau- 
tioned that this is the important night when they must watch 
with redoubled vigilance, because this night will seal the 
Redeemer's fate. He said : " I will rise again in three days;" 
and, if the morning sun of the first day of the week — the 
Sunday — rose upon the undisturbed grave of the dead man, 
then all that He had preached was a lie; and all the wonders 
that He wrought were a deception upon the people. There- 
fore the guards were trebly cautioned to keep watch. Then, 
filled with fear and with an undefined alarm, they close 
around the sepulchre, resolved that so long as hand of theirs 
can wield a spear, no human being shall approach that 
grave. 

The Magdalen lingered round, fascinated by the knowledge 
that her Redeemer and her Lord was there in that tomb which 
she was not allowed to approach. And the guards watched 
patiently, vigilantly, with sleepless eyes ; and the night 
came down, and all the city was silent and darkened. Hour 
followed hour. Slowly and silently time rolls away. The 
night was deepening to its deepest gloom. The midnight 
hour approached. The moment comes when the third day 
in the tomb is accomplished. The moment comes when the 
Sabbath was over — the Sabbath of which it w T as written, that 
" the Lord rested on the seventh day from all his works." 
That Sabbath had Jesus Christ made in that dreary, silent 
tomb. Wounds and blood were upon Him. The weakness 
of death had fastened upon Him. Those lifeless limbs can- 
not move. The sightless eyes cannot open to behold the 
light of day. Death, indeed, seems to have rioted in its 
triumph over the Eternal Lord of life, and hell appears 
victorious in the destruction of the victim. The midnight 
hour approaches. The guards hear the rustling of the com- 
ing storm. They see the tree* bow their heads in that 
garden, and wave to and fro, as by a violent trembling. 
They see them bending as if a storm was sweeping over them. 
They look. What is this orient light that blushes upon the 
horizon ? What is this light which bursts upon them, bright, 
bright as the sun of heaven, bright as ten thousand suns ? 
And while the light flashes upon them, and, dazzled, they 
close their eyes, they hear a riot of voices : " Gloria in excel- 
sis ! Alleluia to the risen Saviour ! " What is this that 
they behold ? The great stone comes rolling back from the 



THE RESURRECTION. 



137 



mouth of the monument into the midst of them ! Save your- 
selves, men ! Save yourselves, or it will crash you ! The 
men are frightened and alarmed. Is it the power of Heaven ? 
Or is it a force from hell ? Presently, forth from that tomb 
bursts the glorified and risen Saviour. Their eyes are 
dazzled with the spectacle of the Man that lay in that cold, 
dark, silent grave. A voice was heard : " Arise, for I am 
come for thee ! 79 And the glorified soul of the Saviour, en- 
tering, that moment, into His body, bursts triumphant from 
the grave ! Death and hell fly from before His face. Fly, 
for a power is here that you cannot command ! Fly, you 
demons, who rejoiced in your triumph, for death and hell 
are conquered. Arise, glorious sun, from the tomb ! Oh, 
what do I behold ? Where, Saviour, is the sign of Thy 
agony f Where is the disfigurement of blood ? Where is 
the sign of the executioner's hand upon Thee ? It is gone- 
gone ! No longer the bloodstained thorn defiles Thy brows ! 
No longer Thy sacred flesh hangs torn from the bones ! 
No! But now, triumphant, glorified, incorruptible, impassi- 
ble, He has resumed the grandeur and the glory which He 
put away from Him on the day of His Incarnation ; and He 
rises from the tomb, the conqueror of death and hell, the 
God and Redeemer of the world ! 

Behold, my brethren, how sorrow is changed into joy ! 
Bursting forth in the light of His divinity, He went His 
way — the way of His eternity. The mountains, the hills of 
Judea — of J erusalem — bowed down before Him. The moun- 
tains moved and rocked on their bases before the assertion 
of Thy sovereignty, God ! He went His way, and left 
behind Him an empty grave, and the clothing in which His 
disfigured body had been wrapped up. An empty grave ! 
But all the angels in Heaven were looking on at that 
moment. At that moment, when the form of the glorified 
Saviour burst from the grave, all the angels of Heaven put 
forth alleluias of joy and of praise. The heart of the Father 
in Heaven exulted. Rising upon His eternal throne, He 
sent forth a cry of joy over the glory of His Son. All the 
angels in Heaven exulted ; and, triumphing, they came down 
to earth, and gazed upon the sacred spot wherein their Master 
and their God had lain. 

The morning came, and the dark clouds had disappeared. 
The very brows of Olivet seemed to shine with a solemn 



138 



FATHER BUBKE'S DISCOUBSES. 



gladness, and the cedars of Lebanon seemed to lift their 
heads with a new instinct of life — almost of love and joy. 
Calvary itself seemed to rejoice. The morning rose, and the 
sun gladly came up from his home in the east, and his first 
rays fell upon the empty grave. And behold the Magdalen, 
and the other pious followers of our Lord, coming with oint- 
ment and sweet spices to anoint Him. They came ; and 
questioning — as w r e have seen — questioning each other. How 
could Mary, with nothing but her woman's strength, how 
could Mary move that stone ? But see ; it is moved. And 
beneath they behold an angel of God. His light fills the 
tomb. There is no darkness there, no sign of sadness, no 
sign of death. Robed in transparent white — even as the 
garments of our Lord shone upon Tabor — so did the Angel 
shine as he kept guard over the death-bed of his Lord and 
Master. Then, speaking to the woman, he says : " Woman, 
whom seekest thou!" u Jesus of Nazareth, who was cruci- 
fied." "Why seekest thou the living among the dead ? 
He is not here. He is risen ! " And then their hearts were 
filled with a mighty joy; for the Master is risen ; while the 
soldiers, frightened and crestfallen, went into Jerusalem, 
proclaiming the appearance to the Pharisees and to the 
people, and that He whom they were set to guard was the 
Lord of light and life, and the Son of God. 

The eyes that were oppressed with the weariness of death 
are now lifted up, shining in the glory of His resurrection. 
The hands that were nailed helplessly to the cross, wield 
again the omnipotence of God. The heart that was broken 
and oppressed, now enters into the mighty ocean of the ages 
of His divinity, undisturbed, unfettered, unencumbered by 
any sorrow. " Christ, risen from the dead, dies no more. 
Death has no more dominion over Him." He died once, 
and He died for sin. u Therefore," says St. Augustine, " by 
dying on Calvary, He showed that He was man ; by rising 
from the grave, He proved that He was God." 

If, therefore, dearly beloved brethren, during the past 
forty days, the Church has called upon us for fasting and 
mortification, has called upon us to chastise our bodies and 
humble our souls (" humiliabam in jejiniio animam meam") 
" In my fast I will humble my soul " — if the Church during 
the past weeks called upon us to be afflicted, and to shed 
our tears at the feet of Jesus crucified — if we have done 



THE BESUBBECTIOK 



139 



this — above all, if we have purified our souls so as to let His 
light, and His glory, and His grace into our hearts,— to-day 
have we a light to rejoice : and the message which I bring 
to you is a message of exceeding great joy. Christ is risen ! 
The Crucified has risen from the grave ! Weakness has 
clothed itself with strength. Ignominy has clothed itself 
with glory. Death has been absorbed in victory j and the 
powers of hell -are crushed and confounded for evermore. Is 
not this a message of great joy and triumph ? And truly I 
may say to you, in the words of St. Paul, u Gaudete in 
Domino ; iterum dico. gaudete" — " Rejoice, therefore, in the 
Lord ! I say to }^ou again, rejoice ! " 

Two reasons have we for our Easter joy and gladness. 
Two reasons have we for our great rejoicing. First of all, 
that of the friend to behold the glory of his friend : the joy 
of a disciple to see the glory of his master : a joy centering 
in Jesus Christ — rejoicing in Him and with Him, for His 
own sake. Was it not for His own sake we sorrowed? 
Was it not because of His grief and sufferings we shed our 
tears and cast ourselves down before Him? So, also, for 
His own sake let us rejoice. We rejoice to behold our God 
reassuming the glory of His divinity, and so participate in 
that glory to His sacred humanity, that the sunshine of the 
eternal light of God streams out from every member, sense, 
and limb of the sacred body of Jesus Christ our Lord. Pure 
light it seemed. With the transparency of Heaven it as- 
sumed all its splendor. All the glory was within Him in 
Almighty affluence, and sent itself forth, so that He was 
truly not only the light of grace for the world, but the light 
of glory. For this must every true believer in Jesus Christ 
rejoice. 

But the second cause of our joy is for our own sake ; for, 
although we grieve for Him and sorrow for Him, for His 
own sake, upon Calvary, we also grieve for ourselves. And 
it is, for us, the keenest and the bitterest sorrow, that the 
work of Calvary was the work of our doing by our sins ; 
that if we were not what we were, He would never have 
been what He was on that Friday morning. That for us 
He bared His innocent bosom to receive all the sorrows and 
all the agonies of His Passion ; that for us did He expose 
His virgin body to that fearful scourging and terrible cruci- 
fixion • that for our sins did He languish upon the cross ) 



140 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



that they put upon Him the burden of the iniquities of us 
all ) and " He was afflicted for our iniquities and was bruised 
for our sins." It is for our own sorrows and for our own sins that 
the very deepest sorrow has a place in the Crucifixion. Well 
did He — He, who permitted that we should be the cause of 
His sorrow — wish us, also, for our own sake, to participate in 
His joy. And why ? Because the resurrection of Christ 
from the dead was not only the proof of His divinity, the 
establishment of His truth, the conviction of His miracles, 
the foundation of His religion, but it was, moreover, the type 
and model of the glorious resurrection that awaits every man 
who dies in the love, and fear, and grace of Jesus Christ. 
Every man who preserves his soul pure, and every man who 
restores to his soul the purity of repentance, — to every such 
man is promised the glory of the resurrection, like unto that 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For as Christ rose from the dead, 
so shall we rise; and as He clothed Himself with glory, so shall 
we pass from glory unto glory — to see Christ in the air — to be 
like unto Him in glory ; and so shall we be with the Lord for 
ever. And that glory which comes to our Lord to-day, comes 
not only to His grand soul, returning surrounded by the 
Saints whom He had delivered from their prison, but it comes 
also to His body, wiping away and erasing every stain, every 
defilement, every wound, and communicating to that body 
the attributes of the Spirit ; for u that which was laid down 
in dishonor rose in glory" — that which was laid down in 
weakness rose in power — that which was laid down subject 
to grief, if not to corruption, rose a spiritual and incorruptible 
body. Even so shall we rise : — for I announce to you a 
wonderful thing, that when the Angels sound the trumpet, 
and call the dead to judgment, they that are in Christ shall 
rise first. And as the soul of the Redeemer went back to 
the tomb, and entered into His body, to make that body 
shine in its spiritual glory, — so shall our souls return from 
the heights of heavenly contemplation, to find these bodies 
a^ain — to reenter them — and to make them shine with the 
glory of God, if we only consent to live and die in the grace 
and favor of Jesus Christ. The eyes that now cannot look 
upon the sun in heaven without being blinded, these very 
eves can gaze upon the face of God and not be blinded by 
His majesty. The ears that are now weary of the music of 
earth shall be so attuned to the music of Heaven, that the 



THE BJES UB RECTI ON. 



141 



rapture of its hearing shall continue in all the ecstasy of de- 
light, so long as God is God. The heart, now so circum- 
scribed as scarcely to be able to rise to the dignity of the 
highest form of human love, will then be so purified and 
exalted that it will be filled with the fairest forms of divine 
love — purified, sanctified, animating every natural sentiment, 
every affection, until the body, growing into the soul's essence, 
shall all become spiritual and, as it were, divine. In a word, 
this gross, corruptible, material body of ours shall be so 
spiritualized — so glorified — so refined, as to be capable of the 
most exquisite pleasure of every spiritual sense ; and yet 
pleasures purifying to the soul, in which every thought and 
every power of the soul and body shall be wrapped up into 

God": 

But mark, dear brethren 5 the resurrection of our Lord is 
the pledge and promise that every soul shall realize 5 but 
two things are necessary in order to arrive at this glory. 
Two conditions are laid down in order to attain to this won- 
derful fulfilment of all the love of the redemption of Jesus 
Christ. And these two things are : First of all, we must 
keep a pure soul and a pure conscience. Mark how Jesus 
Christ came to His glory. He took a human heart, He took 
a human soul, He took a human conscience, — for He was 
true man. But He took every element of His humanity 
from a source so pure, so limpid, so holy, that in heaven or 
on earth nothing was ever seen, or ever shall be seen, until 
the end of eternity, that shall be compared with the Blessed 
Virgin's Son. Throughout His whole life of thirty-three 
years, nothing in it could have the slightest shadow of sin 5 
— nothing that could have the slightest feature of sin upon 
it, ever was allowed to come near the blessed and most im- 
maculate soul and heart of Jesus Christ. When, at last, 
He permitted the appearance of the sin that was not His 
own to come upon Him — to touch Him nearly — it so fright- 
ened Him — it so horrified Him — that the blood burst, as we 
know, from every pore of His body. It seemed as if His 
body, as it were, could not stand the sight. His was the 
grace of purity. Oh, my beloved brethren, that we might 
attain to that self-same purity, as far as our nature will per- 
mit us, that we might only know the beauty of that purity 
beaming from 'Him, as its author and creator ! Christ our 
Lord laid out in His Church the path of purity — the path of 



142 FA THEB B UBKE'S DISCO UBSES. 



innocence. But, for all those who fall, or stumble, or turn 
aside for a moment, He has built another royal road to sal- 
vation, namely, the road of penance. One or other of these 
must we* tread; whether we tread the way of purity or the 
way of penance, we must suffer with Christ if we wish to be 
purified with Him. But, mark ! All pure and holy as He 
was — infinite purity and holiness itself — no passion to disturb 
Him — no evil example to exercise its influence over Him — 
no secret emotion -of pleasure, — even of thai purely human 
pleasure, to come and interfere in the remotest degree with 
the perfect union with His divinity — yet with all this, He 
mortified that sacred body ; He fasted ; He humbled 
Himself ; He prayed ; and He ended by giving that body to 
be scourged and to be crucified ! He shed His blood. 
What an example was this ! That body of Jesus Christ 
was no impediment to His holiness. It only helped Him; 
for it was the instrument of His divine will in the salvation 
of men. Our bodies, on the other hand, impede us every 
day, and put between us and God. . Every passion that 
dwells within us, rises from time to time to separate us from 
God. Every appetite that clamors for enjoyment would 
fain destroy the soul for ever, for a momentary pleasure. 
Every sense that brings thought and idea to the spirit, brings 
also in its train the imminent, the dangerous, the poisonous 
image of the evil example of sin. That which, with Christ, 
was a work of pleasure, is, with us, a work of toil. It is toil 
to deny ourselves somewhat ; to put the sign of the cross, in 
penance and mortification, upon this flesh ; to enter some- 
what into the sufferings of our Lord — into His fasting — into 
His prayer — into His mortification — in order that our bodies 
may be chastened ; for it is only chastened bodies that can 
contain pure and sinless souls. Those who are pure must 
chastise their bodies somewhat — must deny themselves- — in 
order to preserve their parity. Those who are penitent must do 
it in order to appease the justice of God upon that body which, 
some time or other, has led them away from God by sin, and 
so tended to destroy the soul. And this is the reason why the 
Catholic Church commands us to fast : that it tells us we 
must not enjoy overmuch the pleasures of the theatre ; the 
pleasures of gay and festive reunions. It tells us that we 
must, from time to time, be hungry, and yet hot taste food, 
— that we must be thirsty, and yet refuse to refresh ourselves 



THE RESURRECTION. 



143 



for a time with drink. And this, not only that these bodies may- 
be chastened for a time, but that they may be transformed into 
fitness for the glory of Heaven. And here I would remark 
that, while every other religion, while every false religion 
puts away sadness and sorrow, puts away the precept of fast- 
ing, and says that men may pander to, and feed, and cherish 
their bodies, — the Catholic Church alone, from the very first 
day of her existence, drew the sword of the spirit — the sword 
of mortification — and declares through her monks, through 
her hermits, through her virgins, through her priesthood, that 
the body must be subdued, it must be abased, it must be 
chastened, in order that the soul may rise to God by purity 
and grace here, and through them, to the spiritual glory of 
the resurrection hereafter. 

I say that there is a third motive for our joy this morn- 
ing', and it is this : May I, dearly beloved, in this, which I 
may call the closing day of our Lent — may I congratulate 
those whom I see before me ? The constant attendance of 
many amongst you, during the last forty evenings of Lent, 
has made your .faces familiar to me. Over these Catholic 
countenances have I seen from time to time the expression — 
now of sorrow, now of delight ; — -but, whether of sorrow or 
of joy, always of sympathy with Jesus Christ. Of this am I 
a witness ; and on this do I congratulate you. If it be true 
that the Christian man is, indeed, a man in whom Christ 
lives, according to the words of the Apostle : u I live no 
longer, I, but Christ lives within me," — then, according to 
his words, you are lost to yourselves 5 you are dead ; and 
your life is hidden with Christ in God. If, then, the Chris- 
tian man be the man in whom Christ lives, well may I con- 
gratulate you upon every emotion of joy and of sorrow that 
has passed through your hearts and over your faces during 
these forty blessed days that you have passed ; because these 
emotions were the gift of Christ, and the evidence of the life 
of Christ in you, and of your familiarity with Christ's image. . 

May I congratulate you on a good confession and a fer- 
vent communion ? May I, in heart and spirit, bow down 
before every man among you to-day, as a man who holds 
in his bosom Jesus Christ ; as a man whose heart is not an 
empty tomb, like that in the garden outside Jerusalem ; not 
occupied merely by an Angel ; but whose heart is the sanc- 
tuary wherein the risen and glorified Saviour dwells this 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



morning? May I congratulate you on this? I hope so. 
I hope that the words that have been heard here have not 
been spoken in vain. It would fill me with fear if I thought 
there was one among the audiences who filled this church 
during the last Lent, whose hardened heart refused to make 
his Easter confession and communion 5 and to make it as the 
beginning of a series of more frequent — and, if possible, of 
monthly confessions and communions. It would fill me 
with fear if I thought there was such a one here ; because 
then there would come upon me the conviction that it was 
my own un worthiness — my own unfitness — my own weakness 
that made the Word fall fruitless on my lips, and might, 
perhaps, make me a reprobate whilst I was preaching the 
Word. But, no. Nay, I will rather presume that God has 
done His own work — that the Divine Husbandman, who 
placed the seed of His Word in such hands as mine — most 
unworthy — that He has made that Word spring up 5 and 
that the fairest flowers of grace and sanctity already crown 
it in your hearts to-day. Upon this, therefore, I congratulate 
you as the third great motive of your joy ; that not only is 
the Saviour glorified in Jerusalem, but He is glorified in 
your hearts. Not only has He conquered death in the 
Garden of Gethsemane, but He has conquered death in your 
souls. Not only has He driven the devil and all the powers 
of hell before Him, as He burst from the tomb, but He has 
driven him from your hearts, into which He has entered this 
morning. Oh, brethren, keep Him ! Keep Him as your 
best and only friend ! Keep Him as you would keep the 
pledge of that future glory which is to come, and of which, 
says the Apostle : " Eye hath not seen and ear hath not 
heard ; nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive 
— what things the Lord God of heaven hath prepared for 
those wlio cease not to love Him ! 79 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



\_A Sermon delivered by the Very Rev. T. N. BurJce, O.P., on 
Sunday, April '7, 187*2, in the Chapel of the u Xavier Alumni 
Sodality" attached to the Church and College of St. Francis Xavier, 
New York.~\ 

"Now, when it was late that same day, being the first day of the 
week, *and the doors Avere shut, where the disciples were gathered to- 
gether, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, and stood in the midst, and 
said to tbem : ' Peace be to you.' * * * * The disciples, therefore, 
were glad when they saw the Lord : and He said to them again : 
' Peace be to you/ Now, Thomas, the son of Didymus, was not with 
them. * * * Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said : 
' Peace be to you V " John xx : 19-31. 

This mode of salutation was adopted by onr Divine Lord 
after His resurrection and not before. Invariably, for the 
forty days that He remained with His own, after he had risen 
-unto His glory, He saluted them with the words — " Peace be 
to you," as He had said elsewhere, " My peace I leave unto 
you } My peace I give unto you." After His resurrection, I 
say, He said these words. Before His Passion He could 
scarcely say them with truth ; for, up to the moment that He 
sent forth His last cry upon the Cross, — saving us, — there 
was war between God and man ; and how could the Son of 
God say, "Peace be to you?" But now, when He has 
reconciled all in Himself — omnia reconciliavit, et in semet ipso 
pacem faciens, — creating peace — that, which He Himself 
produced, He gave to His Apostles in the words which I 
have just read for you. 

And now, my dear friends, let us consider what is that 
peace of which our Saviour speaks ; what is that peace which 
He declares to be the inheritance of the elect, — the great leg- 
acy that He left to the world, — "the peace of God that sur- 
passeth all understanding." In what does it consist ? Do 
we know the meaning — the very definition — of it ? It is a 
simple word, and familiar to us, this word peace ; but I ven- 
ture to say that it is one of those simple words that men do 



146 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



not take the trouble to seek to interpret or to understand. In 
order, then, that we may understand what is this " peace of 
God which surpasseth all understanding," and in order that 
in our understanding of it by the light of faith, we may dis- 
cover our own mission as Clnistian men, I ask you to con- 
sider what the mission of the Divine Son of God was, when 
He came and " was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Vir- 
gin Mary and was made man." "What did He come for '? 
What work did He have to do ? I answer in the language 
of Scripture : " He came to effect many works of peace and 
reconciliation." In the day that man sinned and rebelled 
against God, he declared war against the Almighty ; and 
God took up the challenge, and declared war against sin- 
ners. This war involved separation between God and man ; 
and in this state of warfare did Christ our Lord find the 
world. He found the world separated from God, first of all 
by error and ignorance. " There is no truth and there is no 
knowledge of God in the land," was the complaint of the 
Prophet Isaiah. " Truth is diminished among the children 
of men," exclaimed, with sorrow, the royal Psalmist. " No- 
where is God known." 

Before the Son of God came upon the earth, the nations 
had wandered away into a thousand forms of idolatry and 
of error. Every man called his own form of error by the 
name of "Religion." Some were "Epicureans;" sensual- 
ists — beasts — were made gods by them. They canonized 
the principle of impurity, and they called it by the name of 
a goddess ; and they declared that this was their religion ! 
Others there were, brutalized in mind, who worshipped their 
own passions of strife; and they canonized the principle of 
revenge and of bloodshed, and they worshipped it under the 
name of Mars. This thing went so far that even thieves, 
robbers, the dishonest, had their own god ; — and the principle 
of dishonesty and of thievery was canonized, or, rather, dei- 
fied, and called religion, and embodied under the name of the 
god Mercury ! It is a trick of the devil, and it is a trick of the 
world, — to take up some form of error — some form of unbelief 
— and to call that " Religion." When He came who was 
"the Way, the Truth, and the Life," there was darkness 
over the whole earth. The world was " civilized " enough. 
Arts and sciences flourished. It was the " Augustan Era," 
which has given a name to the very highest civilization 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



147 



among the nations, from that day to this. But what was 
the awful want of their civilization ? They ignored God ; 
they took no account of God in their knowledge. They 
thought they could be wise without God. God nullified their 
wisdom, and abandoned them to a reprobate sense. Thus did 
mankind declare war against the God of Truth and of Wis- 
dom. What followed from this? Another kind of war, 
more terrible, if you will, — the effect — the natural and 
necessary effect — of that separation of the human intellect 
from God. What was this ? Every form of sin — nay, the 
vilest, the filthiest, the most abominable sin — was found 
among men. Not as an exception ; not as a thing to be hid- 
den -j but as a thing to be acknowledged, as a matter of 
course. The husband was not faithful to the wife, nor the 
wife to the husband. Juvenal tells us that, in that flourish- 
ing society of paganism, as a man saw his wife growing old 
— and, accordingly, as the bloom of her youth passed away 
from her, — he began to despise her ; until, in the words of 
the satirist, the day came when she saw a fair, blooming 
maiden come into the house, and herself, the mother of chil- 
dren, summoned to go out ; because her eyes had lost their 
lustre, and her features the roses and the lilies of beauty ; 
and a stranger was there to take her place. There was no 
principle of fidelity. There was no principle of honesty. 
No man could trust his fellow-man. No man knew who was 
to be trusted. Even the ancient, rugged virtues that the 
early Republics of Greece and Rome produced, had passed 
away. The world was over-civilized for them. They were 
the rough forms, with some semblance of that virtue upon 
them that the rugged, half-civilized man possessed, and were 
utterly laughed at, and scorned, and scoffed at by the civil- 
ized pagan, who was the very embodiment of sensuality and 
impurity. 

Thus did the world declare war against God, and for sen- 
suality. The God of Purity, — they knew Him not, — and 
therefore, they could not believe in Him. " There is no 
truth, and there is no knowledge of God in the land," says 
the Prophet. Then he immediately adds: "Cursing, lying, 
theft, and adultery have overthrown and blotted out much 
love : because my people, saith the Lord, have no grace." 

The second kind of war which our Lord found upon the 
earth was the war between men : for they who had ceased to 



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FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



know God, had ceased to love or respect one another. Split 
np into a multitude of sects, — nation against nation, province 
against province, the very history of our race was nothing but 
a history of war, and strife, and bloodshed. Then came the 
Son of God Incarnate, with healing hand and powerful touch, 
to restore the world, and to renew the face of the earth. How 
did He do this ? It could only be done by Him ; and by 
Him could it be only done by His instituting, and leaving, 
and declaring the truth of God Himself, and leaving it in 
the midst of men ; the unchangeable truth, the eternal truth, 
the pure, unmixed, bright light of truth as it beamed forth 
from the eternal wisdom of God. It was only thus that He 
could restore mankind to peace with the God of eternal truth. 
Then it was necessary that, having thus established the truth, 
He should wipe out the sin, by the shedding of His own 
blood, as a victim, and that He should leave behind Him, for 
ever in the world, the running stream of that sanctifying 
blood " unto the cleansing of the sinner and the unclean, — 
unto the strengthening of the weak, unto the encouraging of 
the strong, unto the revivifying of the dead. 77 Did Christ do 
this? Yes, He lifted up His voice and spoke; and the voice 
of the Saviour was the voice of the eternal God. And mark, 
that, before He saved the world by the shedding of His 
blood, — before He redeemed the sin, — for three long years, 
night and day, in season and out of season, He was preaching 
and teaching 5 dispelling error, letting in the light ; for man- 
kind could not be prepared for redemption except through the 
li^ht and through the truth of God. Wherefore we find Him, 
now on the mountain side, now on the lake ; now among the 
Pharisees, now in the desert ; now in the temple of Jerusa- 
lem, now in the by-ways of J udea ; now in the little towns 
and villages ; but everywhere — " quotidie docens" teaching 
every day, for three years ; preparing the world for its 
redemption • reconciling the human intelligence with the 
light of God 7 s truth ; opening up the minds, and letting the 
stream of pure light from God into, the intellect. Then, when 
the three years 7 preparation was over; then, when He had 
formed His disciples, and established His Apostolic College ) 
— then did the eternal Victim go upon the Cross, and pour 
out His blood : and the shedding of that blood w 7 ashed away 
the sins of the world, and left open those streams from His 
sacred wounds that were to flow through the sacramental 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



149 



channels, and that were to find every human soul, with all 
its spiritual wants, here, there, and everywhere, until the end 
of time, — according to that promise relating to the Church of 
the Lord : u You shall draw waters of joy from the fountains 
of sorrow ! 77 He purified the world by the shedding of His 
blood. But well did He know our nature. u JEt naturam 
nostram ipse cognovit? He made us, and He knew us. Well 
did He know that the stream that He poured forth from His 
wounds on Calvary should flow for ever 5 because the sins 
•* which that blood alone could wipe away would be renewed, 

and renewed again, as long as mankind should be upon this 
earth. "For/ 7 — and He said it with sorrowing voice — "it 
needs must be that scandal cometh. 7 ' 

Thus, in the Divine Truth and the sacramental grace 
which He gave, did He reconcile mankind to His Heavenly 
Father, and restore peace between God and man. Then, 
touching the other great warfare, He proclaimed the principle 
of universal charity — declared that no injuries, no insult, 
must obstruct it, or break it, or destroy it — declared that we 
must do good for evil, — declared that we must live for man ; 
take an interest in all men, try to gain the souls of all men 5 
and that this love, this fraternity, this charity must reign in 
our hearts at the very same time that we are upholding, with 
every power of our mind — and, if necessary, of our body, 
the sacred principles of Divine Truth, and of Divine grace. 

Behold, then, my dear friends, the peace "that passeth all 
understanding/ 7 the peace that He came to leave and to give. 
Peace means union. When nations are at war, they are 
separated from each other into two hostile camps ; and they 
look upon each other with scowling eyes of hatred and 
anger; — but when the war is over, they come forth — they 
meet — and they join hands in peace. So, the meeting of the 
intellect of man with the truth of God — the admission of 
that divine truth into the mind — the opening of the heart to 
the admission of the grace of God, and of our Lord Himself 
by the Sacraments, establishes the meeting of peace between 
God and man. The charity of which I have spoken — the 
nobleness of Christian forgiveness, which is the complement 
of Christian humility — the grandeur of Christian patience 
and forbearance — establishes peace among all mankind. It 
was the design of Christ that that eternal peace of which I 
speak should also be represented by unity j — that all men 



150 FATHER BURKE 1 S DISCOURSES. 



should be one by the unity of thought in one common faith, 
by the unity of heart in one common charity. And it is 
worthy of remark that, just as our Lord saluted His Apostles 
with the words, " My peace be with you," — after His Resur- 
rection — so, before His Passion — on the night before He 
suffered — He put up His prayer to God — and over and over 
again, to the Father in Heaven — that all men might be one, 
even as He and the Father were one. " Father," He says, 
" Keep them one even, as thou and I are one." That is to 
say, a union of faith — a recognition of one undivided and 
unchanging truth, — a bowing down of all before one idea — 
and, then, a union of hearts springing from that union of 
faith. This was the design of Christ 3 and for this He labored. 
And this the Church has labored to effect. For this she has 
labored two thousand years. She has succeeded, in a great 
measure, in doing it; — but the w~ork has been upset and 
destroyed in many lands by the hands of those who were 
the enemies of God in spoiling and breaking up the fair 
design of our Lord and Saviour. 

Now, in this eternal and immutable truth preached to all 
men — recognized by all men — gathering in every intelli- 
gence — respecting all honest deviations — yet uniting all in 
faith : — in this truth and in this sanctifying peace which is in 
the Catholic Church, lies the salvation of the w T orld — the sal- 
vation of society — the salvation of every principle which 
forms this highly commended and oft-praised civilization 
of ours. The moment we step one inch out of the Catholic 
Church and look around us, what do we find / Is there any 
agency on earth. — even though it may call itself a religion, — 
that will answer the purposes of society ? Is there any of 
these sects — or religions, as they call themselves, that can 
make a man pure? No. They are unable to probe and 
sound the depths of the human heart. They do not pretend 
to legislate for purity of thought. Practically, they reduce 
the idea of purity to a mere saving of appearances before the 
world, — to a mere external respect and decorum. Are they 
able to shake a man out of his sins ? No ) there is no real- 
ity about them. They have no tribunal of conscience, even, 
to which thev oblige a man to come after careful self-exam- 
ination. They have no standard of judgment to put before 
him. They have no agency, divinely appointed, to crush a 
man, — to humble a man, — to break the pride in him ; — to 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



151 



make Mm confess and avow his sin ; — and then, lifting the 
sacramental hand over him, — by reason of his humility, his 
sorrow, and his confession, — to send him forth renewed and 
converted by the grace of God. There is no such thing. 
There is nothing so calculated to enable a man to keep his 
word faithfully. No. The first principle of fidelity — lying 
at the root of all society — the great fundamental principle 
of fidelity — is the Sacrament which makes the sanctity of 
marriage, — by which those whom it unites are sealed with 
the seal of God, and sanctified with the truth of God's Church. 
The man is saved from the treachery of his own passions. 
The woman is saved from the inconstancy of the heart of 
man. The family is saved in the assertion of the mother's 
rights, — in the placing on her head a crown that no hand on 
earth can touch or take away. The future of the world is 
saved by ennobling the Christian woman, and wife, and 
mother, with something of the purit}^ of the Virgin Mother 
of God ! Do they do this ? Oh, I feel the heart within me 
indignant, — the blood almost boiling in my veins when I 
think of it ! — when I see under the shadow of the Crucified, — 
nineteen hundred years after He had sanctified the world, — 
when I see men deliberately rooting up the very foundations 
of society, loosening the keystone in the arch, and pulling 
it down, in the day when they went back to their paganism, 
— in the day when they threatened that the bond that God 
had tied should be unloosed by the hands of men, — in the 
day when they gave the lie to the Lord Himself, who de- 
clared- — " What God hath joined let no man separate f — 
in the day when man is so flung out into his own tempta- 
tions j and the woman, no matter who she may be, — crowned 
queen or lowly peasant, — the first or the last in the land, — 
is waiting in trepidation, not knowing the hour when, upon 
some infamous accusation, the writ of divorce may be put 
into her hand, and she, the mother of children, be ordered to 
go forth, that her place may be given to another ! 

Is there any Agency to make men honest ? No ) they can- 
not do it. A man plunders, to-day ; steals with privy hand ; 
enriches himself milawfully, unjustly, shamefully 5 — and, to- 
morrow, he goes to some revival, or some camp-meeting, and 
there he blesses the Lord in a loud voice, proclaiming to his 
admiring friends that he "has found the Lord ! 99 But is 
there any agency to stop him, and say : " Hold, my friend, 



152 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



wait for a moment ! Have you made restitution to the last 
farthing for what you unjustly acquired ? Have you shaken 
out that Judas purse of yours, until the last dime — the very 
last piece of silver for which you sold your soul to hell — has 
gone back again to those from whom it was taken ? If not, 
speak not of finding Christ ! — speak not of leaning upon the 
Lord ! Blaspheme not the God of justice ! ?; Is there any 
agency outside of the Catholic Church to sift a man like this f 
Is there any such agency at all ? Xo : we live in an age of 
shams — of pretences ; and the worst shams of all — the vilest — 
the foulest pretences of all — are those we find in the so-called 
" religious world." Take up your religious newspapers ; take 
up your religious publications, outside of the Catholic Church. 
I protest it is more than common sense or human patience 
can bear ! If the great Church of the living God were not 
in the midst of you, unchanging in truth — ever faithful in 
every commission — clothed in the freshness of her first sanc- 
tity, and sanctifying all who come within her sacramental 
influence ; — if she were not here as the city of God, this so- 
called u religious world n would bring down the wrath of God, 
calculated, as its antics are, to bring the Lord Himself into 
contempt ; exciting the pity of angels, the anger of heaven, 
and the joy of hell. 

A recent writer, who has devoted some attention to the 
consideration of the question of religious indifference, asks — 
u Why are the churches empty J ? How is it that the intellec- 
tual men of the day do not like to listen to sermons ? How is 
it that they take no interest in the things of the Church? 
How is it that they have no belief J ? ; ' And a wise voice — a 
pious voice — answers : " Because, my friend, you do not know 
how to preach to them. If you want to captivate the intel- 
lect of the men of our day ; — if you want to interest them — if 
you want to convince them — do not be clinging to antiquated 
traditions ; — do not rest upon these so-called doctrines of a 
bygone time. Read scientific books. Find there the pro- 
blems that are bursting up continually from modern science, 
and try to reconcile your ideas of religion with those ; — and, 
then, preach to them ! Then will you show yourself a man of 
the age — a man of progress ! n And so, henceforth, the sub- 
ject-matter of our sermons is to be electric telegraphs, sub- 
marine cables, and flying ships. " If you want to learn how 
most effectively to preach," adds this wise and able voice, 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



153 



" read the latest novels, and try to learn from them all the 
by-ways and high-ways of the human heart." See how deli- 
cately they follow all the chit-chat of society, — all the little 
gossipings, and love-makings and the thousand-and-one in- 
fluences that act upon the adulterous and depraved heart of 
man — the wicked passions of man. This is the text from 
which the preacher of to-day is to preach if he wishes to at- 
tract the intellect of the world. And all this in the very 
sight, and under the shadow of the Cross of Christ, who died 
for man ! Was ever blasphemy so terrible ? And this is 
what is called " religion " by the world ! Not a word about 
Divine truth ; not a word about Divine grace ! In one of 
the leading journals of New York — an able paper — a well- 
written paper — in a leading article of that paper, this very 
morning, I read a long dissertation on this very question of 
preaching and preachers 5 — and the word " truth " appeared 
only once in that article ) — and then it came under the title of 
u scientific truth." The word " grace " did not occur even 
once. But never, even once, did simple u truth" occur — or 
even " religious truth " flash across the mind of the able, 
temperate-minded, judicious man that wrote it ! And I do 
not blame him, — for he was writing for the age ! He was 
giving a very fair idea of what the world is, and what the 
world is sure to come to, if the Almighty God, in His mercy, 
does not touch the hearts of men, and give them enough of 
sense to turn to the Catholic Church, and hear the voice of 
God — the Divine spouse of Christ in her teachings. With- 
out this voice they cannot hear the voice of God. Without 
her teaching, this hardened, dried-up heart of man will never 
grow into purity or love. 

Now we come to the mission that you and I have. Grand 
as is the vision that rises before our eyes, when we contem- 
plate the heavenly beauty and graces of our great and 
mighty Mother, the Church, who has never told a lie, nor 
ever compromised or kept back the least portion of the eter- 
nal and saving truth which mankind should know ) who 
has never tolerated the slightest sin, but to king and peasant 
has said alike : u Be pure, be faithful, or J will cut you off 
as a rotten branch, and cast you into hell," — grand, I say, as 
is the spectacle of this glorious Church, — wonderful and con- 
vincing as are her claims to every man's faith and every 
man's obedience, — if the advocacy of these claims were left 



154 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



to me, and to such as I am, and to the Fathers, the world 
would scarcely ever be converted. You have your mission, 
my dear young friends, — children of the Church of God ; 
you have your mission, — not as preachers, indeed ; yet, far 
more eloquent than the voice of any preacher, in the silent 
force of example, — the example that you must give to those 
around you ; forcing the most unwilling and reluctant to look 
upon you and to see in you, shining forth, the glories of your 
divine religion. " Sic lux luceat omni mundo" He did not 
say to all, " Go and preach w : only to the Twelve. But to 
all of them He said : "Let your li^ht so shine before men, 
that, seeing your work, they may give glory to God who is 
in Heaven." And so I say to you, let your light shine 
calmly but brightly, that all men may see you, and thus 
give glory to your Mother the Church, triumphant in Heaven 
and militant for you on earth. It is your mission to avow, 
bravely, manfully, — however temperately, yet firm as the 
adamantine rock, — every sacred principle of Catholicity, and 
every iota of the teaching of that Church, when she teaches 
a law ) because her destiny is to be the embodiment of truth 
in this world. "With the heart we believe unto justice." 
But that is not enough ; with the mouth we must make loud 
confession unto salvation : — loud confession ! Why ? Be- 
cause the devil is making a loud act of his faith, filling the 
world with it, bringing it out everywhere, in books, in news- 
papers, in speeches, in associations, in schools, in the public 
academies, in the universities, in the halls of medicine and of 
law; in the courts, in the senate ; — it is the one cry — the harsh, 
grating cry by which the devil makes his act of detestable 
faith in himself, and denial of God ; — an act of diabolical 
faith that meets us at every turn, — strikes and offends every 
sense of ours with its terrible language. We cannot take 
up a book that, if we do not find a satyr peering out from its 
pages, is not the bald, stark daub of some fool, who flings his 
smut or his infidelity into the sight of God. We cannot 
turn to a public journal that is not a record of plundering, of 
villany, of robbery, and murders and thefts and defalcations. 
Why, what would a dictionary of this day of ours look like ? 
It would be filled with modern names, — page after page, — 
for these modern sins, of which our honest forefathers scarcely 
knew anything • — these sins, the embodiment of the practical 
immorality of the apostate monk of Wmtemburg. We must 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



155 



oppose this terrible exhibition of evil which, the devil makes 
in our public streets, and throughout every organ that comes 
before us, not only by the strong assertion of our holy faith, 
but by the silent and eloquent example of our purity of life, 
our uprightness and cleanliness of heart. And therefore it is 
that, in truth, never perhaps before was the Word of the Lord 
so well fulfilled in the children of the Catholic Church, as to- 
day, when He said: " You are the salt of the earth." And so 
they are the salt of the earth throughout the world. How 
much more in this great country, where we are, as it were, 
in the Spring-time, only breaking up the ground and throw- 
ing in the seed from which, one hundred-fold, the fruit will 
come when we are lying in our cold, forgotten graves. The 
seedlings that we sow to-day of Catholic faith, of Catholic 
purity, of Catholic truth, will grow up into a fruit and an 
abundance so grand, so magnificent, that, perhaps, it is given 
to us that the ultimate glory of the Church of Cod shall be 
the work of our hands and of our lives to-day. It is a great 
thing to live in the Spring-time of a nation * it is a great thing 
to find one's self at the fountain head of a stream of mighty 
national existence that will swell with every age, gaining 
momentum as it rolls on with the flood of time. It is a great 
thing to lie at the fountain-head of that stream. It is said 
with truth — 

" The pebble on the streamlet's brink 

Has changed the course of many a river ; 
The dew-drop on the acorn-leaf 
May warp the giant oak for ever." 

The river of America's nationality and existence is only 
beginning to flow to-day ; and we should endeavor to direct 
it into the current of Catholicity. The young oak which is 
planted to-day, and which will, in all probability, overshadow 
and overspread the whole earth, was but lately hidden in 
the acorn-cup. Ah, let us remember, that even a pebble in 
' the hand of the youth David, hurled against Goliah, struck 
down the giant. Let us be the pebble in the hand of God 
that shall strike down this demon — this proud, presumptuous 
demon of infidelity that has entered into the land, and taking 
" seizing ?? of the whole continent of America, says : " This 
soil must be mine." Let us be as the pebble in the mountain 
brook, which turns the stream that will one day be a mighty 
river, into the great bed of Catholic truth and Catholic 



156 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



purity, that alone can save this land. Let us be as the 
dew-drop on the acorn leaf, — the dew-drop of Catholic faith, 
of Catholic intelligence, and Catholic morality ; the tear, as 
it were, flowing from the pitying eye of the Saviour, upon the 
young, sprouting oak of human existence, training it Towards 
heaven — sending it to heaven in the national aspiration, in 
the national action, and not permitting it to be dragged and 
warped, in this way and that, until it lies a stunted and mis- 
begotten plant, clinging to the earth, into which it will fling 
its leaves 5 its trunk stunted and withered, conveying no sap 
but the sap of religious bigotry and intolerance, and the 
bitterest juices of foolish sectarianism; of absurd, blind folly, 
exciting the laughter of all sensible men upon the earth, the 
indignation of God, and the joy of hell. This is our mission. 
Say, will you fulfil it? Say, Catholic young men, will 
you fulfil it! You cannot fulfil it without being thorough- 
going Catholics ; you cannot fulfil it without being joined, 
heart and soul, with the Church, through the Church's head 
— through the immutable rock — the supreme governor — the 
infallible teacher of God's infallible Church. You cannot 
fulfil this mission until you join, with that rivalry of Chris- 
tian self-denial, the rivalry of Christian purity, and a holy 
horror of every thing hollow and pretentious — a holy horror 
of shams. There are no shams in the Catholic Church; 
there is nothing but shams — religious shams — outside of her. 
You cannot fulfil this mission unless you seek to sanctify 
your hearts and your lives, and to sweeten those lives by 
prayer, by confession, and communion ; and I congratulate 
you, that, in facing this mission, which lies before every 
Catholic man, you do it, not as individuals, but as a body, 
as an organization.- We live in an age of organizations. 
There is nothing every where but organizations, for this thing, 
or for that : and nearly all of them belong to the devil. It 
is fitting that Christ, our Lord, should have His. It is fitting 
that the Church should have hers. You are banded 
together in the name of our Lord and Saviour. You remem- 
ber that, in the Gospel of last Sunday, the Evangelist tells 
us — " These things are written that all men may believe 
that the Lord Jesus is Christ, the Son of God ; and that, 
believing, they may have life in His name. 7 ' In His name 
you are assembled together, bound by common hopes, by 
a common purpose, which, without interfering at all with your 



THE CATHOLIC MISSION. 



157 



daily duties, or your individual liberty, still 'binds you together 
in a unity of thought, of opinion, and of purpose, to act on 
this great mass of society, in which our mission lies — yours 
and mine ; — mine in the Word, mine in labor, mine in undi- 
vided thought, for that and nothing but that, — or else I also 
would be a sham • — yours in the manner of which I have 
spoken to you. And you are banded together under the 
guidance of those religious men whom the Church honors by 
permitting them to take the glorious name of Jesus as their 
own ; — of those men who, for three hundred years, have led 
the van of the Holy Catholic Church in that mighty warfare 
that is going on, which makes the Church a militant church; 
— of those men whose fathers before them — the Saints — 
received first every blow that w T as intended to strike at the 
heart of the Church ,• — of those men who are known among 
the religious Orders of* the Church, and represent the Saviour 
in His risen glory • for they rose again at the command of 
the Sovereign Pontiff ; — of those men whose name is known 
in every land ; — loved with the ardor of Catholic love; hated 
and detested with the first and most intense hatred of every 
man that hates the glorious and immaculate Church of 
Christ ) — of those men who, for three hundred years, have 
trained and led the young intellect of Christendom, — have 
stamped upon every young heart that ever came under their 
hands, the sacred name and the sacred love which is their 
own title and their most glorious crown. And, therefore, I 
congratulate you w T ith hope, — and a high and well-assured 
hope, — that all that God intends, all that the Church expects 
at your hands, in this glorious missionary Society 5 — that — 
all that — you will give to God and to His Church, so as to 
enable Him to repay you, ten thousand-fold, in glory, in the 
kingdom of His everlasting joy. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CATHOLIC 
CHURCH. 



[ A Lecture delivered by Very Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in the Academy of 
Music, Brooklyn, April 24, 1872. ] 

We are assembled this evening, my dear friends, to con- 
template the greatest work of all the works that the Almighty 
God ever created — namely, u The Constitution of the Holy 
Catholic Church." In every work of God it has been well 
observed that the Creator's mind shows itself in the wonder- 
ful harmony that we behold in it. Therefore the poet has 
j ustly said that " Order is Heaven's first law." But if this 
be true of earthly things, how much more does the harmony 
of God, — in the order which is the very expression of the 
Divine mind, — come forth and appear when we come to 
contemplate the glorious Church which Christ first founded 
upon this earth. The glorious Church I call her, and in using 
those words I only quote the inspired Scriptures of God : 
for we are told that this Church, which Christ, the Lord, 
established, is a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, or 
defect of any kind ; but all-perfect, all-glorious, and fit to be 
what He intended her to be — the Immaculate Spouse of the 
Son of God. 

Now, that our Divine Redeemer intended to establish 
such a Church upon the earth is patent from the repeated 
words of the Lord Himself; for it will appear that one of 
the strongest intentions that, was in the mind of the Re- 
deemer, and one of the primary conceptions of His wisdom, 
was to establish upon this earth a Church, of which He speaks, 
over and over again, saying : " I will build My Church so 
that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it : " " He 
that will not hear the voice of the Church, let him be as if 
he were a heathen or a publican." And so throughout the 
Gospel, we find the Son of God again and again alluding 
to His Church, proclaiming what that Church was to be, 
and setting upon her the signs by which all men were to 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 159 



know her as a patent and self-evident fact among the nations 
of the world, until the end of time. And what idea does our 
Lord give us of His Church ? He tells us, first of all, — and 
tells us over and over again,— that His Church is to be a 
kingdom 5 and He calls it — "My kingdom." And else- 
where, in repeated portions of the Gospel, He speaks of it as 
u the kingdom of God." One time He says, " The king- 
dom of God is like unto a city, which was "built upon the 
mountain side, so that all men might behold it." And 
again : " The kingdom of God is like unto a candle set up- 
on a candlestick, so that it might shed its light throughout 
the whole house, and that every one entering the house might 
behold it." And again : " The kingdom of God is like un- 
to a net cast out into the sea, and sweeping in all that come in 
its way — both good and bad." And so, throughout, Christ 
always speaks of His Church as a Kingdom that He was to 
establish upon this earth. When, therefore, any meditative, 
thoughtful man reads the Scriptures reverently, dispassion- 
ately, without a film of prejudice over his eyes, he must come 
to the conclusion that Christ, beyond all, founded a spiritual 
kingdom upon this earth ; and that that kingdom was so 
founded as to be easily recognized by all men. 

Now, if we once let into our minds the idea that the Church 
of Christ is a kingdom, we must at once admit in the Church 
an organization which is necessary for every kingdom upon 
this earth. And what is the first element of a nation ? I 
answer that the first element of a nation is to have a head or 
ruler, — call him what you will — elect him as you will. Is 
it a Republic? it must have a President. Is it a Monarchy? 
it must have its King. Is it an Empire ? it must have its 
Emperor : and so on. But the moment you imagine a state 
or kingdom of any kind without a head, that moment you 
destroy out of your mind the very idea of a State united for 
certain purposes and governed by certain laws. That head 
of the nation must be the supreme tribunal of the nation. 
From him, in his executive office, all subordinate officers hold 
their power ; and, even, though he be elected by the people 
and chosen from among the people, the moment he is set at 
the head of the state or nation, that moment he is the repre- 
sentative or embodiment of the fountain of authority. Every 
one wielding power within that nation must bow to him. 
Every one exercising jurisdiction within the nation must 



160 



FA THEE BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



derive it from liirn. He, I say again, may derive it, even 
from the choice of the people , but, when he is thus elevated, 
he forms one unit, to which every thing in the State is bound 
to look up. This is the very first idea and notion which the 
word State or Kingdom involves. 

It follows, therefore, that, if the Church founded by Christ 
be a kingdom, the Church must have a head ; and, if you can 
imagine a Church without a head, yet retaining its consistency, 
its strength, its unity, and its usefulness, for any purpose for 
which it was created, you can imagine a thing that it is im- 
possible to my mind, or to the mind of any reasonable man, 
to conceive. Luther imagined it, when he broke up the 
nations of the earth with his Protestant heresy ; when he rent 
asunder the sacred garment of unity that girded the fair form 
of the holy Church, the spouse of God. Yet even he, when 
he broke up the Church, was obliged to maintain the prin- 
ciple of headship. The Church of England had her head; 
the Church of Denmark had her head ; that is to say, her 
fountain of jurisdiction, her ruling authority, the existence 
of which, in all these States, we see, with at least the appear- 
ance of religion, kept up — the phantasm of a real Church. 
It is true, my friends, when you come to analyze these differ- 
ent heads that spring up in the different Protestant Churches 
in the various countries of Europe, we shall find some 
amongst them, that I believe here, in America, would be 
called u sore-heads." Henry the Eighth was a remarkable 
sore-head. Perhaps, if he had got a good combing from the 
Almighty God, in this world, he would not get so bad a 
combing as he is, in all probability, receiving where he 
now is. 

We next come to the question : Who is the head of the 
Church of Christ? Who is the ruler f Before I answer this 
question, my friends, I will ask you to rise, in imagination, 
to the grandeur of the idea that fills the mind with the thought 
of the unfathomable wisdom of God, when He was laying, 
and sinking deeply into the earth, the foundations of His 
Church. What purpose had Christ, the Son of God, in view, 
that He should establish the Church at all ? He answers, 
and tells us plainly, that He had two distinct purposes in 
view, and that it was the destiny of the Church which He 
was about to found, to make these purposes known and carry 
them out, and with the extension of them to spread herself, 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, 



161 



and be faithful to them unto the consummation of the world. 
What were these purposes ? The first of these was to en- 
lighten the world and dispel darkness by the light of her 
teachings. Wherefore He said to His Apostles : u You are 
the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, 
that all men may see your works, and seeing you may give 
glory to your Father, who is in heaven." " You are the light 
of the world," He says. " A man does not light a candle 
and put it under a bushel ; but sets it upon a candlestick, 
that it may illuminate the whole house, and that all men 
entering may behold it. So I say unto you, you are the 
light of the world and the illumination of all ages." 

This was the first purpose for which Christ founded His 
Church. The world was in darkness. Every light had 
beamed upon it, but in vain. The light of pagan philosophy, 
even the highest human knowledge, had beamed forth from 
Plato, and from the philosophers ; but it was unable to pene- 
trate the thick veil that overshadowed the intellect and the 
genius of men, and to illumine that intelligence with one ray 
of celestial or divine truth. The light of genius had beamed 
upon it. The noblest works of art this earth ever beheld 
were raised before the admiring eyes of the pagans of the 
world. But neither the pencil of Praxiteles, nor the chisel 
of Phidias, bringing forth the highest forms of artistic beauty, 
was able to elevate the mind of the pagan to one pure 
thought of the God who made him. Every human light had 
tried in vain to dispel this thick cloud of darkness. The 
Light of God alone could do it • and that light came with 
Jesus Christ in heaven. Wherefore He said : " I am th8 
light of the world." And "in Him," says the Evangelist, 
" was Life, and the Life was the light of men." 

The next mission of the Church was not only to illumine 
the darkness, but to heal the corruption of the world, which 
had grown literally rotten in the festering of its own spiritual 
ulcers, until every form that human crime can take w T as not 
only established amongst men, but acknowledged amongst 
them, — crowned amongst them 5 not only acknowledged and 
avowed, but actually lifted up upon their altars and deified in 
the midst of them ; so that men w r ere taught to adore as a 
god, the shameful impersonation of their own licentiousness, 
debauchery, and sin. Terrible was the moral condition of the 
world when the hand of an angry God was forced to draw 



162 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



back the flood-gates of hea ven and sweep away the corruption 
which prevailed through the flesh, until the spiritual God 
beheld no vestige of His resemblance left in man ! Terrible 
was the corruption when the same hand was obliged once 
more to be put forth, and down from heaven came a rain of 
living fire, and burned up a whole nation, because they were 
corrupt ! Terrible was the corruption when the Almighty 
God called upon every pure-minded man to draw the sword, 
in the name of the God of Israel, and smite bis neighbor and 
friend, until a whole nation was swept away from out the 
twelve tribes of Israel ! Christ was sent as our head 5 and 
He came and found the world one festering and corrupt 
ulcerous sore ; and He laid upon it the saving salve of His 
mercy, and declared that He was the purifier of society. 
And to His disciples He said : u You are not only the light of 
the world, to dispel its darkness ; but you are the salt of the 
earth, to heal and sweeten and to preserve a corrupt and a 
fallen race and nature." 

This is the second great mission of the Church of God, to 
heal with her sacramental touch, to purify with her holy 
grace, to wipe away the corruption of the world, and to pre- 
vent its return by laying the healing influence of Divine 
grace there. This is the mission of the Church of God — 
which was Christ's — to be, unto the end of time, the light of 
the world and the salt of the earth. 

Now, from this twofold office of the Church of God, I argue 
that God Himself — the God who founded her, the God who 
established her in so much glory and for so high and holy a 
purpose, the God who made her and created her, His fairest 
and most beautiful work; — that God must remain with her, 
and be her true head unto the end of time. And why f Who 
is the light of the world ? "I am," says Christ. Who is 
the purifier of the world ? "I am," responds the same Christ. 
If then, thou, Christ, be the purifier of the earth and the light 
of the world, tell us, O Master, can light, or grace, or purity 
come from any other source than Thee ? He answers : " No 5 
the man who seeks it in any but in Me, finds, for his light, 
darkness; and for his healing, corruption and death. The 
man who plants upon any other soil than Me, plants indeed, 
but the heavenly Father's hand shall pluck out what he 
plants." Christ, therefore, is the true head of His Church, 
the abiding head of His Church, the unfailing, ever- watchful 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 163 



head of His Church • and is as much to-day the head of the 
Church as He was eighteen hundred years ago. Christ to- 
day is the real head, the abiding head. He arose from the dead 
after He had lain three days in darkness. He had said to His 
Apostles : " I am about to leave you ; but it will only be for 
a little ) a little while and you shall not see Me any more • 
but after a very little while you shall see me again. I will 
not leave you orphans 5 I will come to you again • and I will 
remain with you all days unto the consummation of the 
world." Oh ! my friends, what a consoling thought is this 
unfailing promise of the words of the Redeemer ! Oh ! 
what a consolation has this world in Him who said : 
u Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words 
shall never pass away: I am with you all days unto 
the consummation of the world." And how is He with 
us ? Is He with us visibly ? No. Do we behold Him 
with our eyes? No. Do we hear His own immediate 
voice? No. Have any of you ever seen or heard Him, 
immediately and directly, as John the Evangelist saw Him 
when He was upon the Cross • as Mary Magdalen heard Him 
when He said to her : " I am the resurrection and the life ! " 
No. Yet He founded a visible kingdom — a kingdom which 
was to be set upon the earth, as a candle set upon a candle- 
stick. Therefore, if He is at the head of that kingdom, — if 
he is to preside over it, — if He is to rule and govern it, a 
visible kingdom, He must show Himself visibly. This He 
does not. In His second and abiding coming He hides Him- 
self within the golden gates of the Tabernacle • and there 
He abides and remains ; but when it was a question of 
governing His Church, Christ, our Lord, Himself appointed 
a visible head. And who was this ? He called twelve men 
around Him,* He gave them power and jurisdiction; He 
gave them the glorious mission of His Apostles • He gave 
them a communication of His own spirit • He gave them 
inspiration. He breathed His Holy Spirit, the Third Person 
of the Blessed Trinity, upon them • and He took one of the 
twelve, and He spoke to that one man three most important 
words. They were meant for that one man alone • and the 
proof is that on each occasion when Christ spoke to them, 
He called the twelve around Him, and He spoke to that one 
man alone in the presence of the other eleven, that there 
might be eleven witnesses to the privileges and the powers of 



164 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the one. Who was that one man! St. Peter. St. Peter was 
chosen among the Apostles ; St. Peter, not up to that time 
the one that was most loved; for John w T as "the disciple 
whom Jesus loved : " St. Peter who, more than any of 
the others, was reproved by his Lord, in the severest terms ; 
St. Peter, who, more than any of the others, who were faith- 
ful, — showed his weakness until the confirming power of 
the Holy Ghost came upon him; — Peter was the one chosen ; 
and here are the three words which. Christ spoke. First of 
all He said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I shall 
build My Chinch." Christ heard the people speaking of 
Him, and He said: "Whom do they say I am!" And the 
Apostles answered : " Lord, some of them say you are Elias 
or Jeremias, and some of them say you are John the Baptist, 
and some say you are a prophet." Then Christ asked them 
solemnly: "Whom do you say I am?" Down w 7 ent Peter 
on his knees, and cried out: "Thou art Christ, the Son of 
the living God." Then Christ, bur Lord, said to him : 
" Blessed art thou, Simon, son of John, because flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is in 
Heaven. And I say to thee, thou art Cephas, and upon this 
rock I will build my Church." The man who denies to 
Peter the glorious and wonderful privilege of being the 
visible foundation underlying the Church of God and uphold- 
ing it, is untrue to Christ, the head of the Church. 

The second word the Son of God spoke to Peter was this : 
" To thee, Peter," he said, in the presence of the others, 
" To thee, Peter, will I give the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be 
bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth 
shall be loosed, also, in heaven." He gave His promise to 
them all ; but to Peter, singly, He said : " To thee do I give 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven." That is, the supreme 
power over the Church. On another occasion, Christ, our 
Lord, spoke to Peter ; and the others were present ; and He 
said to him : " Simon, Simon, the devil has asked for thee, 
that he might sift thee as wdieat. But I- have prayed for 
thee, that thy faith fail not ; and thou, being once converted, 
confirm thy brethren." Xow, any man who denies to Peter, 
in the Church, that eternal kingdom that is never to come to 
an end, and, to Peter and his successors, the powder over his 
brethren, to confirm them in the faith which shall never fail, 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH 



165 



— in the faith which was the subject of the prayer of the Son 
of God to His Father; — any man who denies this supremacy 
of Peter gives the lie to Jesus Christ. 

On another solemn occasion, the Son of God spoke to Peter, 
when He was preparing to bid His Apostles and disciples a 
last farewell. They had seen Him crucified ; they had seen 
him lie disfigured, mangled, in the silent tomb. From that 
tomb, with a power which was all His own, He rose, like the 
lightning of God, to the heavens, sending before Him, howl- 
ing and shrieking, all the demons of hell, conquered and 
subdued. Now, His Apostles were gathered together. 
Suddenly a flash lights up the heavens, and He appears 
in their midst. Then He goes straight to Peter, and He 
says : Simon Peter, do you love Me more than these ? Peter 
said : " Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee." Then 
He said to Him : " Feed my lambs." A second time, after 
a pause, the Son of God said : " Simon, son of John, lovest 
thou Me ? 77 Peter said : " Lord, Thou knowest that I love 
Thee. 77 Again He said to him: "Feed my lambs. 77 Another 
pause, and a third time He said to him : " Simon, son of 
J ohn, lovest thou Me more than these ? 77 And then Peter, 
bursting into tears, said : " Lord, Thou knowest all things — 
Thou knowest that I love Thee. 77 Then said the Redeemer, 
" Feed My sheep. 77 Elsewhere the same Redeemer had said, 
li There shall be one fold and one shepherd, 77 and He laid 
His hand on the head of Peter and said : " Thou art Peter, 
the son of John, be thou the shepherd of the one fold : — feed 
My lambs ; feed My sheep. 77 He who denies, therefore, to 
Peter, and to Peter 7 s successor, whoever he is, the one head- 
ship, the one office of shepherd in the one fold of God, gives 
the lie to J esus Christ, the God of Truth. 

The day of the Ascension came. For forty days did Christ 
remain discoursing with His Apostles, instructing them con- 
cerning the kingdom of God. And when the forty days were 
over, He led them forth from Jerusalem, into the silent, 
beautiful mountain of Olives ; and there, as they were gathered 
around Him, and He was speaking to them and telling them 
of things concerning the Kingdom of God — that is, the 
Church, — slowly, wonderfully, majestically, they beheld His 
figure rise from the earth ; and as it rose above their heads it 
caught a new glory and splendor that was shed down upon it 
from the broken and the rent heavens above. They followed 



166 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Him with their eyes. They saw him pass from ring to 
ring of light. Their ears caught the music of the nine choirs 
of heaven, of millions of angels, who, from the clouds, saluted 
the coming Lord. They strained their eyes and their hands 
after Him. They lifted up their voices, saying, as Eliseus 
did of old to Elias ; " Oh ! Thou chariot of Israel, and its 
charioteer ! wilt Thou leave us ? " And from the clouds that 
were surrounding Him He waved to them His last blessing ; 
and their streaming eyes caught the last lustre and brightness 
of His figure, as it disappeared in the empyrean of heaven, 
and was caught up to the Throne of God. Then an Angel 
flashed into their presence, and said : " Ye men of Galilee, 
why stand ye here looking up to heaven ? This Jesus, who 
is taken up into heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him 
going into heaven." And the other disciples bent their knees 
to Peter, the living representative of the supremacy, the 
truth, and the purity of Jesus Christ. 

Henceforth the life of Peter, and of Peter's successors, 
became the great leading light around which, and towards 
which, the whole history of the world revolved. It became 
the central point to which every thing upon this earth must 
tend ; because, in the designs of God, the things of time are 
but for the things of eternity ; and Peter, in being the repre- 
sentative and viceroy of the Son of God upon earth — in the 
external headship and government of the Church — was the 
only man who came nearest to God, who had most of God in 
him, and most of God in his power — in the distribution of 
His grace, in the attributes that belong to the Saviour — and, 
consequently, became the first and highest and greatest of 
men, and the only man that was necessary in this world. 

For many long and weary years Peter labored in his 
Master's cause, watering the way of his life with the tears of 
an abiding sorrow, because, in an hour of weakness, he had 
denied Jesus Christ ; until, at length, many years after the 
Saviour's ascension into heaven, an old man was brought 
forth from a deep dungeon in Rome. There were chains 
upon his aged limbs, and he was bowed down, with care and 
austerity, to the very earth. The few white hairs upon his 
head fell upon his aged and drooping shoulders. Meekly 
his lips moved as in prayer, while he toiled up the steep, rug- 
ged side of one of the seven hills of Home. And when he 
had gained the summit, lo ! as in Jerusalem, many years 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHUECH. 16? 



before, there was a cross and there were three nails. They 
nailed the aged man to that cross, straining his time-worn 
limbs, until they drove the nails into his hands and feet. 
And then, when they were about to lift him, a faint prayer 
came from his lips, and the crucified man said : " There was 
One in Jerusalem whose royal head was lifted towards 
heaven, upon a cross. And He was my Lord and my God, 
Jesus Christ. I am not worthy/ 7 he said, " to be made like 
Him, even in suffering ; and therefore, I pray you, that you 
crucify me with my head towards the earth, from which I 
came. 77 And so, thus elevated, he died j and the First 
Pope passed away. 

For three hundred years Pope succeeded Pope. Peter had 
no sooner left the world than Linus took his sceptre and 
governed the Church of God. Though, down in the Cata- 
combs of Eome, he governed the Church of God, every 
Bishop in the Church, every power in the Church recognized 
him and obeyed him as the representative of God — the living 
head, the earthly viceroy of the invisible but real Head — 
J esus Christ. For three hundred years, Pope after Pope died, 
and sealed his faith in the Church of God with a martyrs 
blood. And then, after three hundred years of dire perse- 
cution, the Church of God was free, and she walked the earth 
in all the majesty and purity of her beauty. 

In the fifth century, the Roman Empire yet preserved the 
outward form of its majesty and power. All the nations of 
the earth bowed to Eome. All conquered peoples looked 
to Eome as their mistress, and as the centre of the world ; 
when, suddenly, from the forests and snows of the North, 
poured down the Huns, the Goths, and Visigoths, in count- 
less thousands and hundreds of thousands. The barbarian 
hordes sallied from their fastnesses, and, led by their sav- 
age kings, broke in pieces the Eoman Empire, and shattered 
the whole fabric of Pagan civilization to atoms. They rode 
rough-shod over the Eoman citizens and their rulers, burned 
their palaces, and destroyed their cities, leaving them a 
pile of smouldering ruins. Every vestige of ancient Pagan 
civilization and power, glory, and art, and science, went down 
and disappeared under the tramp of the horses of Attila. 
One power, alone, stood before these ruthless destroyers 5 
one power alone opened its arms to receive them 5 one 
power arrested them in their career of blood and victory; 



168 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



— and that power was the Catholic Church. "In that 
day," says a Protestant historian, "the Catholic Church 
saved the world, and out of these rude elements formed 
the foundation of the civilization, the liberty, and the glory 
which is our portion in this nineteenth century." 

In the meantime, Rome was destroyed. The fairest pro- 
vinces of Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Germany were overrun by 
the barbarians. The people were oppressed. Fathers of 
families were cut off, hearth-fires extinguished, and the blood 
of the young ravished maiden and of the weeping mother 
was wantonly shed. The people, in their agony, cried out 
to the only man whom the barbarians respected, — one whom 
the whole world recognized as, in a manner, tinged with 
divinity, — the Pope of Rome. The cry of an anguished 
peorjle went forth from end to end of Italy ; and in that hour 
of peril the cry was, — " Save us from ruin ! Cover us with 
the mantle of your protection ! Be thou our monarch and 
king ! and then, and then only, can we expect to be saved." 
Then did the Pope of Rome clothe himself with a new power 
independent of that which he had received already, and which 
was recognized from the beginning, — namely, that temporal 
power and sovereignty, that crown of a monarch, that place 
in the council chambers of kings, that voice in the guidance 
of nations and in the influencing of the destinies of the 
material world which, for century after century, he exercised, 
but which we, in our day, have seen him deprived of by the 
hands of those who have plucked the kingly crown from his 
aged and venerable brow. How did he exercise that power? 
How did he wear that crown ? What position does he hold 
as his figure rises up before the vision of the student of his- 
tory, looking back into the past and beholding him as he 
passes among the long file of kings and warriors of the 
earth ? my friends, no sword dripping with blood is seen 
in the hands of the Pope-king, but only the sceptre of jus- 
tice and of law.. No cries of a suffering and afflicted people 
resound about him, but the blessings of peace and of a 
delighted and consoled world surround him. No blood follows, 
floating in the path of his progress. That path is strewn 
with the tears of those who wept with joy at his approach, 
and with the flowers of peace and of contentment. He used 
his power — and history bears me out when I say it — the 
power which was providentially put into his hands, by which 



THE CONSTITUTION OF TEE CHUECH. 169 

he was made not only a king among kings, but the first re- 
cognized monarch in Christendom ; the king, highest among 
kings ) the man whose voice governed the kings of the earth, 
convened their councils, directed their course, reproved them 
in then errors, and restrained them from shedding the blood 
of their people, and from the commission of every 
other injustice $ — all these powers he used for the good 
of God's people. He used that power for a thou- 
sand years for purposes of clemency, of law, of justice, and 
of freedom. When Spain and Portugal, in the zenith of their 
power, each commanding mighty armies, w T ere about to draw 
the sword and devastate the fair plains of Castile and 
Andalusia, the Pope came in and said: "Mighty kings 
though you be, I will not permit you to shed the blood of 
your people in an unnecessary war." When Philip Augustus, 
of France, at the height of his power,— when he was the 
strongest king in Christendom, — wished to repudiate his law- 
ful wife, and to take another one in her stead, the injured 
woman appealed to Rome ) and from Rome came the voice 
of Rome's king, saying to him : "0 monarch, great and 
mighty as thou art, if thou do est this injustice to thy mar- 
ried wife, and scandalize the world by thine impurity, I will 
send the curse of God and of His Church upon you, and cut 
you off like a rotten branch from among the community of 
kings." When Henry VIII, of England, wished to put away 
from him the pure and high-minded and lawful mother of his 
children, because his licentious eyes had fallen upon a 
younger and fairer form than hers, the Pope of Rome said 
to him : "If you commit this iniquity 5 if you repudiate your 
lawful wife 5 if you set up the principle that, because you are 
a king, you can violate the law ) if no power in your own 
country is able to bring you to account for it, my hand will 
come down upon you 5 and I will cut you off from the com- 
munion of the faithful, and fling you, with the curse of God 
upon you, out upon the world." And I say that in such 
facts as these — and I might multiply them by the hundred 
— the Pope of Rome used his temporal sovereignty and his 
kingly power among the nations in establishing the sacrexl 
cause of human liberty. I speak of liberty — I speak of 
human liberty 5 I thank my God that I am breathing the air in 
which a free man may speak the language of freedom. I 
have a right to speak of freedom ; for I am a child of a race 

8 



170 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



that for eight hundred years have been martyred in the sacred 
cause of freedom. Never did a people love it, since the 
world was created, as the children of Ireland, who enjoy it 
less than any other nation. I can speak this night, but 
rather with the faltering voice of an infant, than with the 
full swelling tones of a man. For I have loved thee, 
Mother Liberty! Thy fair face w r as veiled from mine eyes 
from the days of my childhood. I longed to see the glisten- 
ing of thy pure eyes, Liberty ! I never saw it until I put 
my foot upon the soil of glorious young Columbia. And 
there, rising out of this great Western ocean, like Aphrodite 
of old from the foam of the rolling billows, I beheld the 
goddess in all her beauty; and as a priest, as well as an 
Irishman, I bowed down to her. 

But what is liberty ? Does it consist in everv man having 1 
a right to do as he likes ? No, my friends, this is not liberty. 
The quintessence of freedom lies, not in the power of every 
man to do what he likes, but that quintessence of freedom 
and liberty lies in every man having his rights clearly de- 
nned. Xo matter who he is, from the first to the last, from 
the humblest to the highest in the community, let every man 
know his own rights; let him know what power he has and 
what privileges; give him every reasonable freedom and 
liberty, and secure that to him by law ; and then, when you 
-have secured every man's rights and defined them by law, 
make every man in the State, from the highest to the lowest, 
from the President down to the poorest, — the greatest and 
the noblest, as well as the humblest and the meanest — let 
every man be obliged to bow down before the omnipotence 
of the law. A people that know their rights, a people that 
have their rights thus defined, a people that are resolved to 
assert the omnipotence of those rights — that people can 
never be enslaved. Xow, this being the definition of liberty 
— and I am sure that it comes home like conviction to every 
man in this house — what is true freedom ? That I know 
what rights I have, and that no man will be allowed to 
infringe them. Give me every reasonable right, and when 
I have these, secure them to me, and keep away from me 
every man that dares to impede me in the exercise of them, 
so that I may exercise them freely. 

Xow, I ask you, who is the father of this liberty that we 
enjoy to-day ? — who is the father of it, if not the man who 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 171 



stood between the barbarians, coming down to waste, with, 
fire and sword, to abolish the law, to abolish governments 
and destroy the peoples— the man that stood between those 
destroyers and the people, and said : " Let ns make laws, and 
you respect them, and I will get the people to respect them. 77 
That man was the Pope of Rome. Who was the man that, 
for a thousand years, as a crowned monarch, was the very 
impersonation of the principle of law, but the Pope? Who 
was the man that was equally ready to crush the poor man 
and the rich man, the king and the people — to crush them 
by the weight of his authority — when they violated that law 
and refused to recognize that palladium of human liberty ? 
It was the Pope of Rome. Who was the man whose genius 
inspired and whose ability contributed to the foundation and 
the very institutions of the Italian Republics, and of the an- 
cient liberties of Spain in the early Middle Ages ? Who was 
the man that protected them from the tyranny of the cruel, 
lawless barons, fortified in their castles ? He was the man 
whose house was a sanctuary for the weak and persecuted, 
and who surrounded that house with all the censures and 
vengeance of the Church against any one who would violate its 
sanctity. Who labored, by degrees, patiently, for more than 
a thousand years, until he at length succeeded in elaborating 
the principles of modern freedom and modern society from 
out the chaotic ruin and confusion of these ages of barbar- 
ism ? Who was he 1 — the father of civilization — the father 
of the world V History asserts, and asserts loudly, that he 
was the royal Pope of Rome. And now the gratitude of the 
world has been to shake his ancient and time-honored throne, 
and to pluck the kingly crown from. his brow in his old age, 
after seventy years of usefulness and of glory ; and to con- 
fine him, a prisoner, practically, in the Vatican Palace in 
Rome. A prisoner, I say, practically ; for how can he be 
considered other than a prisoner, who cannot go out of his 
palace into the streets of the city, without hearing the 
ribaldry, the profanity, the obscenity, and the blasphemy, to 
which his aged, pure, and virgin ears had never lent them- 
selves for a moment of his life. Yes — he is dethroned, but 
not dishonored 5 uncrowned, but not dishonored • not un- 
crowned by the wish of his own people, I assert, for I have 
lived for twelve years amidst them, and I know he never 
oppressed them. He never drove them forth — the youth of 



172 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



his subjects — to be slaughtered on the battle-field, because 
he had some little enmity or jealousy against his fellow-mon- 
arch. He never loaded them with taxes, nor oppressed them 
until life became too heavy to bear. Uncrowned, indeed, but 
not dishonored, though we behold him seated in the desolate 
halls of the once glorious Vatican, abandoned by all human 
help, and by the sympathy of nearly all the w T orld ! But 
upon those aged brows there rests a crown — a triple crown, 
— that no human hand can ever pluck from his brow, because 
that crown has been set on that head by the hand of Jesus 
Christ, and by his Church. That triple crown, my friends, 
is the crown of spiritual supremacy, the crown of infallibility, 
and the crown of perpetuity. In the day when Christ said 
to Peter, " Confirm thou thy brethren 5 feed my lambs, feed 
My sheep ; to thee do I give the keys of the Kingdom of 
Heaven/ 7 — in that day he made Peter supreme among the 
Apostles. His words meant this or meant nothing. Peter 
wielded that sceptre of supremacy ; and nothing is more 
clearly pointed out in the subsequent inspired history of the 
Church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, than the 
fact that, when Peter spoke, every other man, Apostle or 
otherwise, was silent, and accepted Peter's word as the last 
decision, from which there was no appeal. Never, in the 
Church of God, has Peter's successor ceased to assert broadly, 
emphatically, and practically this primacy. Never was a 
Council convened in the Catholic Church, except on the com- 
mands of the Pope. Never did a Council of Bishops pre- 
sume to sit down and deliberate upon matters of faith and 
morals except under the guidance and in the presence of the 
Pope, either personally there, or there by his officers or 
legates. Never was a letter read at the opening of any 
Council, — -and they w 7 ere constantly sent to each succeeding 
Council, — that the Bishops of the Church did not rise up and 
proclaim ; " We hear the voice of the Pope, which is the 
voice of Peter; and Peter's voice is the echo of the voice of 
Jesus Christ." Never did any man in the Church of God 
presume to appeal from the tribunal of the Pope, even to the 
Church in Council, without having the taint of heresy affixed 
to him, and the curse of disobedience and schism put upon 
him. For centuries it has been the recognized principle of 
the Catholic Church that no man can lawfully appeal to any 
tribunal from the decision of the Pope in matters spiritual 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 



173 



or in matters touching faith and morality, because there is no 
tribunal to appeal to above him save that of God. He re- 
presents (as the visible head of the Church) the Invisible 
Head, who is none other than Jesus Christ. The conse- 
quence is that the Church, as a kingdom, like every other 
State, has its last grand tribunal, just like the House of 
Lords in England, or the High Court of Justice in Washing- 
ton, from which there is no appeal. What follows from 
this ? There is no appeal from the Pope's decision. There 
never has been. Is the Church bound to abide by that de- 
cision ? Certainly 5 because the Church is bound in obedience 
to. her head 5 one man alone can command the obedience of 
the Church and the duty of submission 5 and that man is the 
Pope. He has always commanded it ; and no one has dared 
to appeal from his decision, because, as I said before, he is 
the Viceroy, the visible head of the Church, in whom, offi- 
cially, is the voice of Jesus Christ present with His Church. 

What follows from this, my friends ? If it be true that the 
Church of God can never believe a lie 5 if it be true that 
she can never be called upon by a voice that she is bound 
to obey, to accept a lie 5 if it be true that nothing false in 
doctrine or unsound in morality can ever be received by the 
Church of God, or ever be imposed upon her ■ — for He who 
founded her said : " The gates of hell shall never prevail 
against My Church 5 " — then it follows that, — if there be no 
appeal from the Pope's decision, but only submission on the 
part of the Church, — it follows that the Pope, when he 
speaks as the head of the Church, when he preaches to the 
whole Church, when he bears witness to the Church's belief 
and the Church's morality, when he propounds a certain 
doctrine to her — upon a body that can never believe a lie, 
that can never act upon a lie, whose destiny it is to remain 
pure in doctrine and in morality — pure as the Son of God 
who created her 5 — it follows that when the Pope propounds 
that doctrine to the Church, he cannot propound a lie to her, 
or force that lie upon her belief — it follows that the same 
spirit of Divine Truth that preserves the body preserves also 
the head, and that the Pope, as head of the infallible Church, 
must be infallible. In other words, the Pope may make a 
mistake. If he write a book, as a private author, he 
may put something in it that is not true. If he pro- 
pound certain theories, unconnected with faith and morals, 



174 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



he may be as mistaken as you or I. But the moment the 
Pope stands up before the holy Church of God, and says : 
u This is the Church's belief; this has been from the begin- 
ning her belief; this is her tradition ; this is her truth ;" then 
he cannot, under such circumstances, teach the Catholic Church 
— the spouse of Jesus Christ — a lie. Consequently, he is 
infallible. I do not give the Church's infallibility, as the 
intrinsic reason of Papal infallibility; but I say this, that if 
any reasoning man admits that Christ founded an infallible 
Church, it follows of necessity that he must admit an infalli- 
ble head. It was but three or four days ago that I was dis- 
puting with an Unitarian minister, a man of intelligence and 
of deep learning, as clever a man, almost, as I ever met ; and 
he said to me : " If I once admitted that the Church was in- 
fallible, that she could not err, that moment I would have 
to admit the infallibility of the Pope ; for how on earth can 
you imagine a Church that cannot err, bound to believe a 
man that commands her to believe a lie ! It is impossible; it is 
absurd upon the face of it." And so, my friends, it has ever 
been the belief and faith of the Catholic Church that the 
Pope is preserved by the same spirit of truth that preserves 
the Church. 

But, you will ask me, " If this be the case, tell me how is 
it that it was only three or four years ago the Church declared 
that the Pope was infallible ? 97 I answer that the Catholic 
Church cannot — it is not alone that she will not, but she can- 
not — teach any thing new, any thing unheard of. She cannot 
find a truth, as it were, as a man would find a guinea under 
a stone. She cannot go looking for new ideas and saying : 
" Ah ! I find this is new ! Did you ever hear of it before ? 79 
The Church cannot say that. She has from the beginning 
the full deposit of Catholic truth in her hand ; she has it in 
her instinct ; she has it in her mind ; but it is only now and 
then, when a sore emergency is put upon her, and she cannot 
help it, that the Church of God declares this truth or that, or 
the other, which she has always believed, to be a revelation 
of God, and crystallizes her faith and belief and tradition in 
the form of dogmatic definition. Which of us doubts that 
the very foundation of the Catholic Church «rests upon the 
belief that Christ, our Lord, the Redeemer, was the Son of 
God ? It is the very foundation-stone of Christianity. This 
has been the essence of all religion since the Son of God 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 175 



became man. And yet, my friends, for three hundred years 
the Catholic Church had not said a single word about the 
divinity of Christ ) and it was only after three hundred years, 
when a man named Arius rose up and said : " It is all a mis- 
take ; the Son of Mary is not the Son of God. He who 
suffered and died on the Cross was not the Son of God, 
but a mere man 5 " — then after three hundred years the 
Church turned round and saicL: " If any man says that 
Jesus Christ is not God, let that man be accursed as an infidel 
and a heretic* Would any of you say : " Then it seems that 
for three hundred years the Church did not believe it?" She 
always believed it ; it was always her foundation-stone. 
" If she did believe it, why did not she define it ? " I answer, 
the occasion had not arisen. It is only when some bold 
invader, when some proud, heretical man, when some bad 
spirit manifests itself among the people, that the Church is 
obliged to come out and say — " Take care ! take care ! Re- 
member this is the true faith and then, when she declares her 
faith, it becomes a dogmatic definition, and all Catholics are 
bound to bow to it. Need I tell you, Irish maids, Irish 
mothers, and Irish men — need I tell you how St. Patrick 
preached of the woman whom he called Muire Mhathaire, 
u Mary Mother/ 7 the woman whom he called the Virgin of 
God ? Need I tell you that the Church always believed that 
that woman was the Mother of God ? And yet you will be 
surprised to hear that at the time that St. Patrick preached 
to the Irish people, the Church had not yet defined it as an 
article of faith. It was only in the fifth century that the 
Church, at Ephesus, declared dogmatically that Mary was the 
Mother of God. Did not she believe it before ? Certainly ! 
It was no new thing j she always believed it ; but there was 
no necessity to assert it till heretics denied it. Then, to guard 
her children from the error which was being asserted, she 
had to define her faith. Did not the Church always believe 
iu the presence of Christ transubtantiated in the Eucharist? 
Most certainly. All history tell us that she believed it. 
Her usages, her ceremonies, every thing in her, point to that 
divine presence as their life and centre ; but it was sixteen 
hundred yeaxs before the Church defined tran substantiation 
as an article of faith ; and then only because Calvin denied 
it. He was the first heretic to deny it. It was denied by 
Berengarius ; a learned man, in the thirteenth century ; but he 



176 



FATHER BURKE "S DISCOURSES. 



immediately repented, and burned his book, and there was an 
end of rt. But the first man to preach a denial of the real 
presence of Christ was Calvin. Luther never did. The 
Church of God declared that Christ was present, and 
that the substance of bread and wine was changed 
into the body and blood of the Lord. And so, in 
our day, the Church, for the first time, found it necessary 
to declare that her head, her visible head, cannot teach 
her a lie. It seems such an outrage upon common sense to 
deny this, — it seems so palpable and plain, from the very 
constitution of the Church, that it seems as if the definition of 
this dogma were unnecessary. Yet in truth it was to meet the 
proud, self-asserting, cavilling, questioning spirit of our day 
that the Church was obliged to do this. It was because, 
guided by a wise Providence, — scarcely knowing, yet fore- 
seeing that which was to come, — that the Pope was to be de- 
prived of all the prestige of his temporal power ; that all 
that surrounded him in Rome was to be lost to Him for a 
time ; that, perhaps, it was his destiny to be driven out and 
exiled, and a stranger among other men on the face of the 
earth ; so that he might be unknown, lost sight of, — that the 
Church of God, with her eight hundred Bishops, rising up in 
the strength of her guiding spirit, fixed upon the brow of her 
Pontiff the seal of her faith in his infallibility, that wherever 
he goes, wherever he is found, whatever misfortunes may be 
his lot, he will still have that seal upon him which no other 
man can bear, and which is the stamp of the head of the 
Catholic Church. 

And now, my dear friends, we come to the last circle of that 
spiiitual tiara that rests upon the brow of Pius the Ninth. 
It is the crown of perpetuity. There is no man necessary 
in this world but one. We are here to-day 5 we die to- 
morrow, and others take our places. The kings of the earth 
are not necessary. Sometimes, Lord knows, it would be 
as well if they did not exist at all. The statesmen and 
philosophers of the earth are not necessary. My friends, the 
politicians of to-day are scarcely a necessity. We might 
manage by a little engineering — and above all by a little 
more honesty — to get on without them, and find perhaps a 
few dollars more in our pockets. One alone was necessary 
to this world from the beginning, and that was He whom 
we beheld upon the cross on Good-Friday morning — He 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 177 

alone. Without Him we were all lost ; no grace, but sin ; 
no purity, but corruption ; no heaven, but hell. He was 
necessary from the beginning ; and the only man that is now 
necessary upon the earth is the man that represents Him. 
We cannot get on without him. The Church must have her 
head ,• and He who declared that the Church was to last un- 
to the end of time will take good care to keep her held. He is 
under the hand of God 5 and under the hand of the Ruler of 
the Church we can well afford to leave him. He will take 
good care of him. As* a temporal ruler I assert still that 
the Pope is the only necessary ruler on the face of the 
earth. He is necessary, because, not establishing his power 
by the sword 5 not preserving it by the sword ; not en- 
larging his dominions by the sword, or by injustice ; as 
a monarch, as a king, he represents the principle of 
right unprotected by might, and of justice and law en- 
throned by the common consent of all the nations. In the 
day when might shall assume the place of right ; in the day 
when a man cannot find two square feet 'of earth on which to 
build a throne, without bloodshed and injustice ; in that day, 
when it comes, the Pope will no longer be necessary as a 
temporal sovereign •— but pray God, that before that day 
comes, you and I may be in our graves 5 for when that day 
comes, if ever it comes, life will be no blessing, and existence 
upon this earth will be a curse rather than a joy. The 
Pope is necessary because some power is needed to stand 
between the kings .and the people 5 some power before 
which kings must bow down 5 some voice recognized as 
the voice not of a subject, not of an ordinary man, 
or an ordinary bishop ; a voice as of a king amongst 
kings j some voice which will confound the jealousies, and 
passions, and scandals of the rulers of the earth, which only 
serve as so many means to shed the blood of the people. 
Our best security is the crown that rests upon the brow of a 
peaceful king. Our best security is the crown that rests upon 
the brow of a man who was always and ever ready to shield 
the weak from the powerful, and to save to woman her 
honor, her dignity, her place in the family, her maternity, 
from the treachery, and the villany, and the inconstancy of 
man 5 to strike off the chains of the slave, and to prepare 
him before emancipation for the glorious gift of freedom. 
This power is the Pope's, and he has exercised it honestly 



178 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



and well. Protestant historians will tell you that the Pope 
was the father of liberty ; that he was the founder of mod- 
ern civilization : and that the crown that was upon his head 
was the homage paid by the nations to clemency, and mercy, 
and justice, and law. And therefore he must come back; 
he must come and seat himself upon the throne again. The 
day will come when all the Christians in the world will be 
desirous of this. And when that day comes, and not till then, 
justice shall be once more tempered by mercy ; absolutism 
shall be once more neutralized by the constitutional lib- 
erties and privileges of the people. When that day comes, 
the people on their side will feel the strong yet quiet re- 
straining hand enforcing the law ; while the kings, on their 
side, will behold once more the now-hated and detested 
vision of the hand of the Pontiff brandishing the thunders 
of the Vatican. That day must come, and with it will 
come the dawn of a better day, a day of peace. And I 
believe, even now, in this future day, in this coming year, 
when we shall behold the Pope advancing at the head of all 
the rulers of the earth, and pointing out, with sceptred 
hand, the way of justice, of mercy, of truth, and of 
freedom. We shall behold him, when all the nations 
of the earth shall greet • his return to power, shall 
greet his entry into the council-chambers of their sovereigns, 
even as the Jews greeted the entry of Christ into Jerusa- 
lem, and hailed Him king. I behold him, when foremost 
among the nations that shall greet him, in that hour,— a 
sceptred monarch and crowned king, a temporal ruler, and, far 
more, a spiritual father, — amongst these nations, the mighty, 
the young, the glorious, and the free America shall present 
herself. When this land, — so mighty in its extent and the 
limits of its power, that it cannot afford to be any thing else 
than Catholic, — for no other faith can be commensurate with 
so mighty a nation • — when this land, this glorious America, 
developing her resources, rising into that awful majesty of 
power that will shake the world and shape its destinies, will 
find every other religious garb too small and too miserable 
to cover her stately form save the garb of the Catholic faith, 
the Christian garment in which the Church of God will en- 
velop her ; and she, strong in her material pow r er, strong in 
her mighty intelligence, strong in that might that will place 
her at the front of the nations, shall be the first to hail her 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 



179 



Pontiff, her father and her king, and to establish him upon 
his mighty throne as the emblem and the centre of the faith 
and the glorious religion of an united people, whose strength 
— the strength of intellect, the strength of faith, the strength 
of material power — will raise up, before the eyes of a won- 
dering and united world, a new vision of the recuperative 
power and majesty and greatness of the Almighty God, as 
reflected in His Church. 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 



\_A Lecture delivered by Very Rev. T. 2F. BurTce, O.P., in St. Mary's 
Church, RoboTcen, N. J., April 25, 1872, for the benefit of the Hospital 
under the charge of the Sisters of the Poor. ] 

My Dear, Frietos : We all read the Scriptures 5 bnt of 
tlie many who read them, how few there are who take the 
trouble of thinking profoundly on what they read. Any one 
single passage of the Scriptures represents, in a few words, a 
portion of the infinite wisdom of the Almighty God. Conse- 
quently, any one sentence of those inspired writings, should 
furnish the Christian mind with sufficient matter for thought 
for many and many a long day. Now, we. Catholic priests, 
are obliged, every day of our lives, in our daily "Office," to 
recite a large portion of the divine and inspired Word of 
God, in the form of prayer. Never was there a greater mis- 
take than that made by those who think that Catholics do 
not read the Sriptures. All the prayers that we, priests, have 
to say — seven times a day approaching the Almighty God, 
— are embodied in the words of the Holy Scriptures ; and 
not only are we obliged to recite them as prayers, but we 
are also obliged to make them the subject of our daily and 
our constant thought. I purpose, therefore, in approaching 
this great subject of the "Attributes of Christian Charity, 77 
to put before you a text of Scripture which many of you 
have, no doubt, read over and over again ; viz. : the first 
verse of the fortieth psalm, in which the Psalmist says : 
" Blessed is the man that understandeth concerning the 
needy and the poor. 77 

Now, if you reflect, my clear friends, you will find that, at 
first sight, it seems strange to speak of that man as " bless- 
ed 77 that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor 5 
there seems to be so little mystery about them. They meet 
us at every corner : put their wants and their necessities 
before us ; they force the sight of their misery upon our eyes ; 
— and the most fastidious and the most unwilling are obliged 



THE A TTEIB TJTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY, 



181 



to look upon their sorrows, and to hear the voice of their 
complaint and their sufferings. What mystery is there, then, 
in the needy and the poor ? What mystery can there be ? 
And yet, in the needy, and the poor, and the stricken, there 
is so profound a mystery that the Almighty God declared 
that few men understand it ; and " blessed " is he that is able 
to fathom its depths. What is this mystery ? What is this 
subject, — the one which I have come to explain to you? A 
deep and mysterious subject ; — one that presents to us far 
more of the wisdom of the designs of God, than might appear 
at first. What is the mystery which is hidden in the needy 
and the poor, and in which we are pronounced u blessed n if 
we can only understand it thoroughly, and, like true men, 
act upon that understanding? Let me congratulate you, 
first, that, whether you understand this mystery or not, your 
presence here to-night attests that you wish to act upon it ; 
that yours are the instincts of Christian charity, that the 
needy and the poor, and the stricken ones of God have only 
to put forth their claims to you, at the pure hands of these 
spouses of our Lord 5 and you are ready, in the compassion 
and the tenderness of heart which is the inheritance of the 
children of Christ, to fill their hands, that your blessings may . 
find their way to the needy and the poor. 

And yet, although so prompt in answering the call of 
charity, perhaps it will interest you, or instruct you, that I 
should invite your consideration to this mystery. What is 
it ? In order to comprehend it, let us reflect. The Apostle, 
St. Paul, writing to his recently converted Christians, lays 
down this great rule for them : That, for the Christian man, 
there are three. virtues which form the very life and essence of 
his Christianity , and these are, — not the virtues of prudence, 
nor of justice, nor of high-mindedness, nor of nobleness, nor 
of fortitude : no 5 but they are the supernatural virtues of 
Faith, Hope, and Love. "Now, there remain to you, 
brethren," he says, "Faith, Hope, and Charity, — these 
three ; but the greatest of these is Charity. " The life of 
the Christian, therefore, must be the life of a believer — a 
" man of Faith." It must be a hopeful life, — an anticipative 
life — a life that looks beyond the mere horizon of the pre- 
sent time into the far-stretching eternity that goes beyond 
it ; — a life of Hope ; but, most of all, it must be a life of 
divine love. Those are the three elements of the Christian 



182 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



character. Nowadays it is the fashion to pervert these 
three virtues. The man of faith is no longer the simple 
believer. Faith means a bowing-down of the intellect to 
things that we cannot understand, because they are mysteries 
of God. But the idea of religion, nowadays, is to reason 
and not to believe. The Apostle, if he were writing to the 
men of this nineteenth century, would be obliged to say : 
" Brethren, now there remain to you argument and reason," 
but not faith ; for faith means, in words of the same Apostle, 
the humbling, unto full humiliation, of intelligence before 
the mystery which was hidden for ages with Christ in God. 
"Faith," says St. Paul, "is the argument of things 
that appear not." The Catholic Church, nowadays, is 
called the enslaver of the intelligence — the incubus upon the 
mind of man. And why ? Because she asks him to believe. 
Mind, — men of intelligence who listen to me, — because she 
asks man to believe ; because she says to him, " My son, I 
cannot explain this to you ; it is a mystery of God ; " and 
there is no faith where there is no mystery. Where there is 
the clear vision, the comprehensive conviction of the intelli- 
gence, arising from argumentation and reason, there is no 
sacrifice of the intellect ; — there is no Faith. 

Hope, nowadays, has changed its aspect altogether. 
Men put their hopes in any thing rather than in Christ. It 
was only a few days ago I was speaking to a very intel- 
lectual man. He was an Unitarian — a man of deep learning 
and profound research. Speaking with him of the future, he 
said to me : " Oh, Father, my future is the ennoblement of the 
human race ; the grandeur of the 6 coming man 7 • — the perfect 
development, by every scientific attainment, by every grand 
quality that can ennoble him, of the man who is to be formed 
out of the civilization and the progress and the scientific 
attainments of this nineteenth century." That was his 
language ; and I answered him and said : " My dear sir, my 
hope is to see Christ, the Son of God, shining forth in all my 
fellow-men here, that He may shine in them for ever here- 
after. I have no other hope." 

The Charity of to-day has changed its aspect. It has 
become a mere human virtue. It is compassionate, I grant 
yon j but not with the compassion that our Lord demands 
from His people. It is benevolent, I am willing to grant you. 
We live in an age of benevolence. I bow down before 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 183 



that human virtue ; and I am glad to behold it. I was 
proud of my fellow-men, seeing the readiness and generosity 
with which, for instance, they came to the relief of the great 
burned city on the shores of the northern lake. I am proud, 
when I come here, to hear New York and Jersey City and 
Hoboken called " cities of charities. 77 It is the grandest title 
that they could have. But when I come to analyze that 
charity — when I come to look at that charity through the 
microscope that the Son of God has put in my hands, viz. : 
— the light of divine faith, — I find all the divine traits dis- 
appear ; and it remains only a human virtue ; relieving the 
poor, yet not recognizing the virtue that reposes in them ; 
alleviating their sufferings, touching them with the hand of 
kindness or of benevolence; but not with the reverential, 
loving hand of faith and of sacrifice. 

On the other hand, loudly protesting against this spirit of 
our age, which admits the bad and spoils the good; which* 
lets in sin, and then tries to deprive of its sacramental nature 
the modicum of virtue that remains ; — protesting against all 
this, stands the great Catholic Church, and says ; — " Children 
of men, children of God, Faith, Hope, Charity must be 
your life : but your Faith and your Hope must be the 
foundation of your Charity ; for the greatest of these virtues 
is Charity. 77 

And why ? What is Faith ? Faith is an act of human 
intelligence ; looking up for the light that cometh from on 
high — from the bosom of God, from the Eternal Wisdom of 
God. Recognizing God in that light, Faith catches a gleam 
of Him and rejoices in its knowledge. Hope is an act of the 
will, striving after God, clinging to His promises, and trying, 
by realizing the conditions, to realize the glory which is the 
burden of that promise. Charity, alone, succeeds in laying 
hold of God. The God of whom Faith catches a glimpse, — 
the God after whom Hope strains, — Charity seizes and makes 
its own. And, therefore, " the greatest of these is Charity ? 
When the veil shall fall from the face of God, and when we 
shall behold Him in heaven, even as He is and as He sees 
us, there shall be no more Faith : it shall be absorbed in 
vision. When that which we strain after and hope for to- 
day shall be given us, there shall be no more Hope : it shall 
be lost in fruition. But the Charity that seizes upon God 
to-day, shall hold for all eternity. Charity, alone, shall 



184 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



remain, the very life of the elect of God. And ; therefore, " the 
greatest of these is Charity." 

Are there among you, this evening, any who are not 
Catholics ? If there be, yon may imagine that, because I 
come before you in the garb of a Dominican friar of the 
thirteenth century, — with seven hundred years not only of 
the traditions of holiness, but even of historic responsibility 
on my shoulders, in virtue of the habit that I wear, — you 
may imagine that I come among you, perhaps, with an alien- 
ated/heart and embittered spirit for those without tbe pale 
of my holy, great, loving mother, the Church of God — for 
which, some day, God grant that it may be my privilege to 
die. But, no. If there be one here to-night, who is not a 
Catholic, I tell him that I love in him every virtue that he 
possesses. I tell him, " I hope for you, that you will draw 
near to the light, recognize it, and enter into the glorious 
Jialls illuminated by the Lamb of God — the Jerusalem of 
God upon earthy which needs not the sun nor the moon ; 6 for 
the Lamb is the lamp thereof. 7 n And most assuredly I love 
him. But I ask you, my friends, have you Faith ? Have 
you simple belief, the bowing down of the intelligence to the 
admission of a mystery into your minds, acknowledgiDg 
its truth, — while you cannot explain it to your reason "? 
Have you Faith, my beloved ?• — the Faith that humbles 
a man — the Faith that makes a man intellectually as a 
little child, sitting down at the awful feet of the Saviour, 
speaking to that child, through His Church ? If you have 
not this Faith, but if you go groping for an argument here 
or an argument there, trying to build upon a human foun- 
dation the supernatural structure of divine belief, — then, I 
ask you, how T can you have Hope, — seeing that Almighty 
God stands before you and says : " Without Faith it is im- 
possible to please Me ; without Faith it is impossible to ap- 
proach Me ; without Faith you must be destroyed ) for I 
have said it, — and My word cannot fail, — he that believeth 
not shall be condemned. 77 And if you have not Faith and 
Hope,— the foundation, — how can you have the superstruc- 
ture of divine Charity ? How can we believe God, unless 
we know 7 Him ? How^ can w-e love Him, unless in proportion 
as we know Him ? " God, 77 exclaimed the great St. 
Augustine, " let me know- Thee, and know Thee well, that 
I may love Thee and love Thee w T ell. 7; 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 185 



Now, these being the three virtues that belong to the 
Christian character, let us see how far the mystery which is 
in the needy and the poor, enters into these considerations of 
Faith, Hope, and Love. Certain it is that the Charity which 
the Almighty God commands us to have; — that is to say, 
the love which He commands us to have for Himself, — is 
united to the other commandment of the love that the Chris- 
tian man must have for his neighbor. Certain, also, it is, that 
the poorer, the more prostrate, the more helpless that neigh- 
bor is, the stronger becomes his claim upon our love. Third- 
ly : it is equally certain from the Scriptures, that the Charity 
must not be a. mere sentiment of benevolence, a mere feeling 
of compassion ; but it must be the strong, the powerful hand 
extended to benefit, to console, and to uplift the stricken, the 
powerless, and the poor. " For," says St. John, " let us not 
love in word or in tongue ; but in deed and in truth." And 
he adds : " If any man among you have the substance of this 
world, and shall see his brother needy, and poor, and in want, 
and shall give him not of those things that he hath, how doth 
the Charity of God abide in him ? 79 Therefore your Charity 
must be a practical and an earnest Charity. 

Such being the precept of God with respect to the needy and 
the poor, let us see how far Faith and Hope become the sub- 
stratum of that Charity which must move us towards them. 
What does Faith tell us about these poor ? If we follow the 
example of the world, building up great prisons, paying 
physicians, paying those whom it deems worth while to pay 
for attending the poor, the sick, and the sorrowful — if we 
consult the world, building up its workhouses, immuring the 
poor there, as if poverty were a crime, — separating the hus- 
band from the wife, and the mother from her children, — we 
see no trace here of divine Faith. And why? Because 
divine Faith must always respect its object. Faith is the 
virtue by which we catch a gleam of God. Do we catch a 
gleam of Him in His poor ? If so, they enter into the 
arrangement of divine Charity. Now, I assert, that the poor 
of God, the afflicted, the heart-broken, the sick, the sorrow- 
ful — represent our Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth. Christ, 
our Lord, declared that He would remain upon the earth and 
would never leave it. " Behold/ 7 He said, " I am with you 
all days unto the consummation of the world." Now, in 
three ways Christ fulfilled that promise. First of all, He 



186 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



fulfilled it in remaining with his Church — the abiding Spirit 
of Truth and Holiness — to enable that Church to be, until 
the end of time, the infallible messenger of divine truth ; that 
is to say. the light of the world — the unceasing and laborious 
sanciirier of all mankind. " You are the light of the world," 
says Christ ; u you are the salt of the earth. You are not 
only to illumine, but you are to save and to purify. In order 
that you may do this, I will remain with you all days/' 
Therefore, is He present in the Chinch. Secondly, He is 
present in the adorable Sacrament of the altar, and in the 
tabernacles of the Church — really and truly — as really and 
truly as He is upon the right hand of His Father, There- 
fore He said, u I will remain." And He indicated how He 
was to remain when, taking bread and wine, He transub- 
stantiated them into His body and blood, saying, over the 
bread, " This is My body,*' and over the wine, " This is My 
blood.*' But in both these ways Christ, our Lord, remains 
invisibly upon the earth. Xo man sees Him. TVe know 
that He is present in the Chinch ; and, therefore, when the 
Church of God speaks, we bow down and say, "I believe, 
because I believe and I know that the voice that speaks to 
me reechoes the voice of my God, the God of Truth.' 7 When 
Christ, our Lord, is put upon that altar, and lifted up in the 
hands of the priest — lifted up in holy benediction, we bow 
down and adore the present God, saying : u I see Thee not, 
Lord, but I know that behind that sacramental veil Thou 
art present upon Thv altar, for Thou hast said : Lo, I am 
here ! This is My body ! This is My blood ! * 

But, in a third way, Christ our Lord remains upon earth 
— visibly, and no longer invisible. And in that third way 
He remains in the persons of .the poor, the sick, and the 
afflicted. He identifies Himself with them. Xot only 
during the thirty-three years of His mortal life, when He was 
poor with the poor, when He was soiTowful and afflicted with 
the sorrowful, when He bore the burden of their poverty and 
the burden of our sins on His own shoulders ; — not only was 
His place found among the poor, — He who said : u The 
birds of the air have their nests, the beasts of the field and 
the foxes have their holes ; — but the Son of Man hath no 
place whereon to lay His head ! n Xot only was He poor 
from the day that He was bom in a stable, until the day 
when, dying naked upon the cross, for pure Charity, He got 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY, 187 



a place in another man's grave 5 — but He also vouchsafed to 
identify Himself with His poor until the end of time, as 
though He had said : " Do you wish to find Me ? Do you 
wish to touch Me with your hands ? Do you wish to speak 
to Me words of consolation and of love ? Christian man, 
go seek the poor and the naked, the sick, the hungry, and 
the famishing ; — seek the afflicted and the heart-broken • and 
in them you will find Me. For, amen, I say unto you, what- 
soever you do unto them, that you do also unto me l" Thus 
does Christ, our Lord, identify Himself with the poor and 
the Church. He remains in the world, in His Church, com- 
manding that we shall obey her : — for He is God. In His 
sacramental presence we may adore Him : He is God. In 
His poor, — in the afflicted, naked, hungry, famishing, we may 
bend down and lift Him up : He is God still. A most 
beautiful example of how the Saints were able to realize this, 
do we find recorded in the life of one of the beautiful 'saints 
of our Dominican Order — a man who wore this habit. He 
was a Spanish friar. His name was Alvarez of Cordova. 
He was noted among his brethren for the wonderful earnest- 
ness and cheerfulness with which he always sought the poor 
and the afflicted, to succor and console them. Well, it hap- 
pened upon a day that this man of God, absorbed in God and 
in prayer, went forth from his convent to preach to the people, 
and, as he journeyed along the high-road, he saw, stretched 
helplessly by the roadside, a man covered with a hideous 
leprosy, — ulcerated from head to foot, — -hideous to behold 5 — 
and this man turned to him his languid eyes, and, with faint 
voice, appealed to him for mercy and succor. The sun, in all 
its noonday fervor, was beating down fiercely upon that 
stricken man's head. He was unable to move. Every man 
that saw him fled from him. The moment the Saint saw him 
he w r ent over to him and knelt down by his side, and he 
kissed the sores- of the leprous man. Then, taking off the 
outer portion of our habit — this black cloak — he laid it upon 
the ground, and he tenderly took the poor man and folded 
him in the cloak, lifted him in his arms, and returned to his 
convent. He entered the convent. He brought the leper 
to his own cell, and laid him on his own little conventual 
bed. And, having laid him there, he went off to find some 
refreshments for him, and such means as he could for consol- 
ing him. He returned with some food and drink in his 



183 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



hands, laid them aside, went over to the bed, and there he 
found the sick man. He unfolded the cloak that was 
wrapped around him. Oh ! what is this that he beholds ? 
The man's head wears a crown of thorns ; on his hands and 
his feet are the marks of nails ) and forth from his wounded 
side streams the fresh blood ! He is dead ; but the marks 
of the Saviour are upon him ; and then the Saint knew that 
the man whom he had lifted up from the roadside was Christ 
his Lord and his God ! And so, with the eyes of faith, do 
we recognize Christ in His poor. 

What follows from this ? It follows, my fiiends, that the 
man who thus sees his God in the poor, who looks upon 
them with the eyes of Faith, who recognizes in them some- 
thing sacramental, the touch of which will sanctify him who 
approaches them - } — that that man will approach them with 
tenderness and with reverence : that he will consult their 
feelings — that he will seek to console the heart while he re- 
vives the body ; and while he puts meat and drink before 
the sick man, or the poor man, he will not put away from 
his heart the source of his comfort. He will not separate 
him from the wife ^of his bosom or the children of his love. 
He will not relieve him with a voice unmindful of compassion ; 
bending down, as it were, to relieve the poor. ~No ; but he 
will relieve him in the truth of his soul, as recognizing in 
that man one who is identified, in the divinity of love and 
of tenderness, with his Lord and Master. 

This explains to you the fact, that when the high-minded, 
the highly-educated, the noblest and best of the children of 
the Catholic Church — the young lady with all the prospects 
of the world glittering before her ; with fortune and its enjoy- 
ments around her ; with the beauty of nature and of grace 
beaming from her pure countenance ; — when the young lady, 
enamored of heaven, and of the things of heaven, and dis- 
gusted with the world, comes to the foot of the sanctuary, 
and there, kneeling, seeks a place in the Church's holy places, 
and an humble share in her ministrations, the Chinch takes 
her — one of these — her holiest, her best, her purest, and she 
considers that she has conferred the highest honor upon the 
best of her children, when she clothes her with the sacred 
habit of religion, and tells her to go and take her place in 
the hospital, or in the poorhouse, or in the infirmary, or in the 
orphanage, and sit down and minister to the poor; not as 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 189 



relieving them, but as humbly serving them ; not as com- 
passionating them, but as approaching them with an almost 
infinite reverence, as if she were approaching Christ himself. 

Thus, do we see how the Catholic virtue of Charity springs 
from heaven. All tenderness of heart, all benevolence, all 
compassion, must be there, — as no doubt it is, — in the hearts 
of the consecrated virgins, who, in order that they might love 
Christ and His poor all the more tenderly, all the more 
strongly, vowed to the Saviour, at His altar, that no love 
should enter into their bosoms, no emotions of affection 
should ever thrill their hearts, except love for Him ; for Him, 
wherever they found Him : and they have found Him in 
His poor and in His sick. All the tenderest emotions of 
human benevolence, of human compassion, of human gen- 
tleness may be there, All that makes the good Protestant 
lady, — the good infidel lady, if you will, — so compassionate 
to the poor; — yet whilst the worldling, and those without 
the Church bend down to an act of condescension in their 
charity, these spouses of the Son of God look up to the poor, 
and in their obedience seek to serve them ; for their com- 
passion, their benevolence, their divinely tender hearts, are 
influenced by the divine faith which recognizes the Son of 
God in the persons of the poor and the needy, the stricken, 
and the afflicted. 

This is the Catholic idea of Charity in its associations. 
What follows from this 1 ? It follows, that when I, or the 
like of me, w T ho, equally with these holy women, have given 
our lives, and our souls, and our bodies to the service of the 
Son of God and of His Church, w T hen we come before our 
Catholic brethren to speak to them on this great question of 
Catholic Charity, we do not come as preaching, praying, 
beseeching, begging. Oh, no ! But we come with a strong- 
voice of authority, as commanding you, " If you would see 
the Father's brightness, remember the poor, and, at your peril, 
surround them with all the ministrations of charity and of 
mercy." 

And how does Hope enter into these considerations ? Ah, 
my friends, what do you hope for at all? What are your 
hopes ? I ask the Christian man, the benevolent brother, 
— I do not care what religion you are of : Brother, tell me 
your hope ; because Hope from its very nature goes out into 
the future ; Hope is a realizing, by anticipation, of that which 



190 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 

will one day come and be in our possession. What are your 
hopes ? Every man has his hopes. No man lives without 
them. Every man hopes to attain to some position in this 
world, or to gain a certain happiness. One man hopes to 
make money and become a rich man. Another man aspires 
to certain dignities, hopes for them, and labors assiduously 
until he attains them. Another man centres his hopes in 
certain passions, and immerses himself in the anticipation of 
sensual delights. But I do not care what your hopes are ; 
this I ask you : are your hopes circumscribed by this world, 
or do they go beyond the tomb ? Is all Hope to cease when 
the sad hour comes that will find each and every one of you 
stretched helpless on his bed of death, and the awful Angel, 
bearing the summons of God, cries out, " Come forth, soul, 
and come with me to the judgment seat of Christ ! " Is all 
Hope to perish then ¥ No ; no ! but, for the Christian, the 
realization of Hope begins then. No, this life is as nothing 
compared with that endless eternity that awaits us beyond 
the grave ; and there all our hopes are ; and the Hope of the 
Christian man is that, when that hour comes that shall find 
his soul trembling before its impending doom, awaiting the 
sentence — that that sentence will not be, " Depart from me, 
accursed," but that it will be, " Come, my friend, my blessed 
one, come and enjoy the happiness and the delight which 
were prepared for thee ! n This is our Hope. Accursed is 
the man who has it not. Miserable is the wretch that has it 
not ! What would this life be — even if it were a life of ten 
thousand years, replete with every pleasure — every enjoyment 
— unmixed by the slightest evil of sickness or of sorrow, — if 
we knew that, at the end of those ten thousand years, the 
eternity beyond, that should never know T an end, was to be for 
us an eternity of sorrow and of despair ? We should be, of 
all men, the most miserable. " For," says the Apostle, " if 
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are, of all men, 
the most miserable. But,* 7 he adds, " Christ is risen from 
the dead, — our hope i n and our hope is to rise with Him ; 
translated from glory unto glory, until we behold His face, 
unshrouded and unveiled, and be happy for ever in the con- 
templation of God. 

This is our Hope : yours and mine. But remember that, 
although the Almighty God has promised this, and our Hope 
is built upon the fidelity with which He keeps His word, no 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 191 



man can expect the reward, nor can build up his Hope on a 
solid foundation, unless he enters into the designs of God, 
and complies with the conditions that God has attached to 
His promises of glory. What are these conditions? Think 
how largely the poor and the afflicted enter into them ! 
" Come," the Redeemer and Judge will say, " Come unto me, 
ye blessed of my Father ! This is not the first time that you 
have seen me. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat ! I 
was thirsty, and you gave me to drink ! I was naked, and 
you clothed me ! I was sick, and you visited me and con- 
soled me ! 77 And then the just shall exclaim : u Lord ! when 
did we ever behold Thee — powerful and terrible Son of 
God ! when did we behold Thee naked, or hungry, or sick?' 7 
And He, answering, will call the poor, — the poor to whom 
we minister to-day; the poor whom we console to-day; 
whose drooping heads we lift up to-day, — He will call them, 
and say : " Do you know these ? 77 And they will cry out : ■ 
11 Oh, yes; these are the poor whom we saw hungry, and we 
fed them ; whom we saw naked, and we clothed them ; whom 
we saw sick, and we consoled and visited them. These are 
the poor that we were so familiar with, and that we employed, 
Thy spouses, Christ, to minister unto, and to console ! 77 
Then He will answer, and say: "I swear to you that, as I 
am God, as often as yon have done it to the least of these, 
yon have done it unto Me ! 77 But if, on the other hand, we 
come before Him, glorying in the strength of our Faith, — 
magniloquent in our professions of Christianity, — splendid in 
our assumption of the highest principles,- — correct in many of 
the leading traits of the Christian character, — but with hands 
empty of the works of mercy ; if we are only obliged to say 
with truth : " Lord, I claim heaven ; but I never clothed the 
naked ; I never lifted up the drooping head of the sick and 
the afflicted — 7 ' Christ, our Lord, will answer and say : 
" Depart from me ! I do not know you ; I do not recognize you. 
I was hungry, and you would not feed me in my hunger ; I 
was naked, and you would not clothe me in my nakedness ; 
I was thirsty and sick, and you would not relieve me, or con- 
sole me in my sickness. 77 And the unjust will answer : 
"Lord, we never saw Thee hungry, or naked, or sick. 77 
And then, once more, will He call the poor, and say : 
"Behold these; to these did you refuse ymr mercy, your 
pity, your charity ; and I swear to you that, as I am God, in 



192 



FATHER BURKES DISCOURSES. 



the day that you refused to comfort, and to succor, and to 
console them, you refused to do it unto me. Therefore, there 
is no Heaven for you." The golden key that opens the gate 
of Heaven is the key of mercy 5 therefore, He will say : 
a As often as you are merciful to the poor, you are merciful 
to Me. I have said : blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
find mercy." 

Who, therefore, among you, believing in these things, does 
not recognize that there is no true Faith that does not recog- 
nize Christ in His poor, and so succor them with veneration • 
who does not see that his Hope is built upon the relations 
which are established between him and the poor of God. 
Thus, out of this Faith and out of this Hope, springs the 
Charity with which we must relieve them. 

Row, mark how beautifully all this is organized in the 
Catholic Church ! There is a curious expression in the 
Scriptures. It is found in the Canticles of Solomon, where 
the Spouse of the King — that is to say, the Church of God 
— among other things, says : " My Lord and my King has 
organized charity in me " — " Ordinavit in me caritatemP 
Thus it is not the mere temporary flash of enthusiasm ; it is 
not the mere passing feeling of benevolence, touched by the 
sight of their misery, that influences the Catholic Church j 
but it is these promises and these principles of the Christian 
Faith, recognizing who and what the poor are, and our 
Christian Hope, building up all the conditions of its future 
glory upon this foundation. Therefore it is that, in the 
Catholic Church alone, is found the grand, organized Charity 
of the world. Nowhere, without her pale, do you find 
Charity organized. You may find a fair and beautiful 
ebullition of pity, here and there ; as when a rich man dies 
and leaves, perhaps, half-a-million of dollars to found a 
hospital. But it is an exceptional thing, my dear friends j 
as when some grand lady, magnificent of heart and mind — 
like, for instance, Florence Nightingale — devotes herself to 
the poor ; goes into the hospitals and the infirmaries for the 
wounded. It is an exceptional case, I answer. If you travel 
out of the bounds of that fair and beautiful compassion that 
runs in so many hearts, and if you go one step farther into 
the cold atmosphere of political or State charity, there is not 
one vestige of true Charity there ; it becomes political 
economy. The State believes it is more economical to pick 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 193 



up the poor from the streets and lanes, to take them from 
their sick beds, transferring them into poorhouses and 
hospitals, and, while there, overwhelming them with the 
miserable pity that patronizes, making its gifts a curse 
and not a blessing, b}' breaking the heart while it 
relieves the body. Such is " State charity." I remember 
once, in the city of Dublin, I got a sick call. It was 
to attend a poor woman. I went, and found, in a back 
lane in the city, a room in a garret. I climbed up to the 
place. There I found, without exaggeration, four bare walls, 
and a woman seventy-five years of age, covered with a few 
squalid rags, and lying on the bare floor : not as much as 
a little straw had she under her head. I asked for a cup 
to give her a drink of water. There was no such thing to 
be had ; and there was no one there to give it. I had to go 
out and beg among the neighbors, until I got a cupful of 
cold water. I put it to her dying lips. I had to kneel down 
upon that bare floor to hear that dying woman's confession. 
The hand of death was upon her. What was her story ? 
She was the mother of six children, a lady, educated in a lady- 
like manner ; a lady beginning her career of life in affluence 
and in comfort. The six children grew up. Some married ; 
some emigrated ; some died : the weak and aged mother was 
alone, abandoned, and forgotten : and now, she was literally 
dying, not only of the fever that was upon her, but of starva- 
tion ! As I knelt there on the floor, and as I lifted her aged, 
greyhaired head upon my hands, I said to her: "Let me, for 
God's sake, have you taken to the workhouse hospital 5 at 
least, you will have a bed to lie upon ! n She turned and 
looked at me. Two great tears came from her dying eyes, 
as she said : " Oh, that I should have lived to hear a Catho- 
lic priest talk to me about a poorhouse ! " I felt that I had 
almost broken this failing heart. On my knees I begged 
her pardon. " No/ 7 she said, u let me die in peace ! n And 
there, whilst I knelt at her side, her afflicted and chastened 
spirit passed away to God : but the taint of the " charity of 
the State " was not upon her. 

Now, passing from this cold and wicked atmosphere of 
political economy into the purer and more genial air of 
benevolence, charity, and tenderness — of which there is so 
much, even outside the Church, — we enter into the halls of 
the Catholic Church. There, among the varied beauties, 



194 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



among the u consecrated forms of loveliness 99 with which 
Christ adorned His Church — we find the golden garment of 
an organized charity. We find the highest, the best, and 
the purest, devoted to its service and to its cause. We find 
every form of misery which the hand of God, or the malice 
of man, or their own errors can attach to the poor, provided 
for. The child of misfortune wanders through the streets of 
the city, wasting her young heart, polluting the very air that 
she breathes, — a living sin ! The sight of her is sin — the 
thought of her is death ! — the touch of her hand is pollution 
unutterable ! No man can look upon her face and live ! 
In a moment 'of divine compassion, the benighted and the 
wicked heart is moved to turn to God. With the tears of the 
penitent upon her young and sinful face, she turns to the 
portals of the Church ; and there at the very threshold of 
the sanctuary of God, she finds the very ideal of purity, — 
the highest, the grandest, the noblest of the Church's chil- 
dren. The woman who has never known the pollution of a 
wicked thought, — the woman whose virgin bosom has never 
been crossed by the shadow of a thought of sin, — the woman 
breathing purity, innocence, grace, receives the woman whose 
breath is the pestilence of hell ! Extremes meet. Mary, the 
Virgin, takes the hand of Mary, the Magdalene; and, in the 
organized charity of the Church of God, the penitent enters 
in — to be saved and sanctified. 

The poor man, worn down and broken by poverty, exposed 
in his daily labor to the w T inds and rains of Heaven, with 
failing health and drooping heart, lies down to die. There 
by his bedside stands the wife, and round her, her group of 
little children. They depend upon his daily labor for their 
daily bread. Now, that hand that labored for them so long 
and so lovingly, is palsied and stricken by his side. Now his 
dying eyes are grieved with the sight of their misery. His 
ears are filled with the cry of the little ones for bread. The 
despair of their doom comes to embitter his dying moments. 
He looks from that bed of death out upon the gloomy world. 
He sees the wife of his bosom consigned to a pauper's cell, to 
await a pauper's grave ; and, for these innocent faces that sur- 
round him, he sees no future but a future of ignorance and of 
crime ) — of punishment without hope of amendment — and of 
the loss of their souls in the great mass of the world's crimes 
and misdeeds. But, while he is thus mournfully brooding with 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 



195 



sad and despairing thoughts, what figure is this that crosses 
the threshold and casts its shadow on the floor of the house ? 
Who is this, entering noiselessly, modestly, silently, shrouded 
and veiled, as a being of Heaven, not of earth ? He lifts his 
eyes and he beholds the mild and placid face of the Sister of 
Mercy, beaming purity mixed with divine love upon him. 
Now the sunshine of God is let in upon the darkness of his 
despairing soul. Now he hears a voice almost as gentle, 
almost as tender, almost as powerful as the voice of Him who 
whispered in the ear of the Widow of Nairn : " Oh, woman, 
weep no more ! 77 And she tells him to fear not ; that her 
woman's hand will ensure protection for his children — and 
education, grace, virtue, Heaven and God ! I once remember 
I was called to attend a man, such as I have endeavored to 
describe to you. There were seven little children in the 
house. There was a woman, the mother of those children, 
the wife of him who was dying there. Two years before 
this man had fallen from a scaffold, and was so shattered that 
he was paralyzed j and for two years he had lain upon that 
bed starving as well as dying. When I was called to visit 
this man, I spoke to him of the mercy of God. He looked 
upon me with a sullen and despairing eye. " This is the first 
time/ 7 he s^aid, " that you have come to my bed-side." Said I, 
" My friend, this is the first time that I knew you were sick. 
Had I known it, I would have come to you before. 77 " No 
one 77 — this was his answer — " no one cares for me. And 
you come now to speak to me of the mercy of God ! I have 
been on this bed for more than two years. I have seen that 
woman and her children starving for the last two years. 
And do you tell me that there is a God of Mercy above me ? 77 
I saw at once it was a case with which I could not deal. I 
left the house on the instant, and went straight to a convent 
of the Sisters of Mercy that was near. There I asked the 
Mother Superior, for God 7 s sake, to send one or two of the 
Nuns to the house. They went. Next day I visited him. 
Oh, what a change I found ! No longer the dull glance of 
despair : he looked up boldly and cheerfully from his bed of 
sorrow. No longer murmuring against the mercy of God, — 
but with the deep thankfulness of a grateful heart : "Oh," 
said he, u I am so happy, Father, that I sent for you, — not so 
much for any thing you can do for me; but you sent me two 
angels of God from Heaven ! They came into my house ; 



196 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



and, for the first time, in two long years, I learned to hope ; 
to be sony for my want of resignation : and to return with 
love to that God whom I dared to doubt ! * Then he made 
his confession, and I prepared him for death. Patient he 
was, and resigned; and, in his last moments, when his 
voice was faltering, — when his voice became that of the de- 
parting spirit, — his last words were: "You sent tome the 
angels of God, — and they told me that when I should be in 
my grave they would be mothers to my children ! ?; 

fair and beautiful Church, that knows so well how to 
console the afflicted, to bind up the wounds of the breaking 
heart, to lift up the weary and drooping head ! Every form 
of human misery, every form of wretchedness, whether sent 
from God as a warning or a trial, or coming from men's own 
excesses and folly, and as a punishment for their sins, — 
every form of human misery and affliction, as soon as it is 
seen, is softened and relieved by the gentlest, the tenderest, 
the sweetest agency, — the touch of God through His con- 
secrated ones. And it seems to the sufferer as if the word of 
the promise to come were fulfilled in time, — the word which 
says : u The Lord Himself will wipe away every tear from 
the eyes of His elect, and will bind up every bleeding and 
wounded heart." 

And thus, my friends, we see how beautifully charity is 
organized in the Catholic Church. Not one penny of your 
charity is wasted. Every farthing that you contribute 
will be expended wisely, judiciously ; and extended to its 
farthest length of usefulness in the service of God's poor 
and of God's stricken ones. And lest the poor might 
be humbled, while the}' are relieved ; lest they might be 
hurt in their feelings, while consoled with the tem- 
poral doles that are lavished upon them, the Church of 
God, with a wisdom more than human, appoints as her 
ministers of the poor, those w T ho, for the love of Christ, 
have become poor like them. Behold these nuns ! They 
are the daughters of St. Francis. Seven hundred years ago 
now, almost, there arose in the city of Assisi, in Umbria, in 
Italy, a man so filled with the ineffable love of Christ, — so 
impregnated with the spirit of the Son of God, made man, — 
that, in the rapture of his prayer, the stigmata — the marks of 
the nails upon the hands and feet, of the thorns upon the 
brows, of the wounds upon the side of the Redeemer, — were 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 197 



given to Francis of Assisi. Men beheld him and started from 
the sight, giving glory to God that tliey had caught a gleam 
of the glory of Christ upon earth. He was the only Saint of 
whom we read, that, without opening his lips, but simply 
coming and walking through the ways of the city, all eyes 
that beheld him were melted into tears of tenderness and 
divine love : and he " preached Christ and Him crucified/ 7 by 
merely showing the mortification, and the spirit, and the love 
of Christ which was upon him and in him. These are the 
daughters of tbis Saint, inheriting his spirit ) and he, in the 
Church, is the very ideal Saint of divine and religious 
poverty. He would not have a shoe to his foot. He would 
not have a second coat. He would not have in his bag pro- 
vision even for to-morrow ; but waited, like the Prophet of old, 
that it should come to him from God, at the hands of his 
benefactors, — the very ideal Saint of poverty; and, there- 
fore, of all others, the most devoted in himself, and in having 
his children minister unto God's poor. When there was a 
question of destroying the religions Orders in Italy, and of 
passing a law that wonld not permit me, a Dominican, or 
these nuns, Franciscans, to dwell in the land, — just as if we 
were doing any harm to anybody 5 — as if we were not doing 
our best to save and serve all the people ; — when it was a 
question before the Parliament, Csesare Cantu, the celebrated 
historian, stood np in the assembly and said : " Men ! before 
you make this law, abolishing all the religious men and 
women in the land ; reflect for an instant. If any man 
among you, by some reverse of fortnne, become poor, — if any 
man among you, in this enlightened age, be obliged to beg 
his daily bread 5 would not you feel ashamed — would not 
you feel degraded to have to go to your fellow-man to ask 
him for alms? For me, if God should strike me with 
poverty, I would feel it a degradation. But I would not 
feel it a degradation to go to a Dominican or Franciscan, 
and ask him, a brother pauper, to break his bread with me." 

It is fitting that the voice which speaks to you this even- 
ing, — although it comes from one wearing the habit of St. 
Dominic, — should speak to you in the language of Saint 
Francis of Assisi, who was the bosom friend of the great 
Dominic of Guzman. United in life and in love as they 
were, their children are united in that spiritual love which is 
the inheritance of God's consecrated ones on earth. And, 



193 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



therefore, it is a privilege and a glory to me to speak to you 
this evening on behalf of my Franciscan sisters. Yet, not 
in their behalf do I speak, but in behalf of the poor ; nor in 
behalf of the poor, but in behalf of Christ, who identifies 
Himself with the poor • nor in behalf of Him, but in your 
own behalf 5 seeing that all your hopes of the glory of 
Heaven are bound up with the poor of whom I speak. It 
is your glory, and the glory of this special charity, that it 
was the first hospital founded in this State ; that at a time 
when men, concentrating their energies to amass wealth, 
immersed in their business, trying to heap up accumulations, 
and gather riches and large possessions, never thought of 
their poor • or, if the poor obtruded themselves, brushed them 
out of their path, and told them to begone ; then there came 
the Church of Christ into the midst of you. She sought not 
money, nor land, nor possessions. She brought these poor 
nuns, vowed to poverty, despising all the things of the world, 
and leaving them behind them • she built up her hospital 
for the sick ; she brought her children of St. Francis of 
Assisi, to minister to them, in mercy, in faith, and hope, 
and in the gentleness of divine charity. Do they not say to 
you : u Blessed is the man that understandeth concerning 
the needy and the poor 77 ? 

I hope I may have thrown some light into the minds of even 
one amongst you, this evening, and let him see how blessed 
is the man who knows his position concerning the needy and 
the poor. I hope that those to whom my words give no light, 
may, at least, be given encouragement to persevere. Per- 
severe, Catholics of Hoboken and Jersey City, in maintain- 
ing these Sisters, in filling their hands with your bene- 
factions • in enabling them to pursue their calm but glorious 
career of charity and of mercy. I know that in thus encourag- 
ing you, I am advancing the best interest of your souls ) and 
that the mite that you give to-day, which might be given for 
pleasure or sinfulness,— that that mite shall return to you 
one day in the form of a crown, the crown of glory which 
will be set upon your heads, for ever and for ever, before the 
Throne of God, by the hands of the poor of Christ. Again, 
I say to you, will you hear the voice from the Throne : 
" Whatever you do to the poor, you do it unto Me" ? Oh, 
may God send down His angel of mercy ! — may the spirit 
of His mercy breathe amongst us ! — may the charity 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF CATHOLIC CHARITY. 199 



which guides your mercy, the charity springing from 
an enlightened and pure faith, and from a true and sub- 
stantial hope, — bring your reward: — that* so, in the day 
when Eaith shall perish with time- — when Hope shall be lost, 
either in joy or in sorrow — either in the fruition of Heaven, 
or in the despair of hell, — that on that da}^, you may be able 
to exclaim, when you first catch sight of the unveiled glory 
of the Saviour : " Christ, of all the beauties of God, it is 
true, 'the greatest is Charity. 7 " 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE TRUE 
EMANCIPATOR. 



I A Lecture delivered by Very Rev. T. JV. BurTce, O.P., in St. Stephen's 
Church, New York, April 30, 1872, for the benefit of the Mission to the 
Colored Race in America.'] 

My Dear Feiexds : I come before vou this evening to 
assert a proposition which would require no 'proof, if all men 
were of one mind regarding the claims of the Catholic 
Church to be the Church of Christ. I assert for the Catholic 
Church that she is the true emancipator of the slave ; and I 
say again, that, if men were of one mind touching her claims 
to be the true Christian Church, this proposition would re- 
quire no proof; for any man who believes in the agency of 
Christ, as perpetuated in His Church, must at once conclude 
that one of the highest and greatest of the duties of that 
Church is the duty which her Divine Founder Himself came 
to accomplish, viz : the work of emancipation. He came and 
found, not this race, or that, — not this class or order of men, or 
that, — but all mankind, and all races of men, enslaved in the 
direst form of slavery ; — a slavery that entered into their very 
souls j a slavery that not only destroyed their freedom of 
will, but also clouded, and thereby destroyed, the clearness 
of their intelligence ; a slavery that bound them helpless at 
the feet of the most cruel of all masters ; — for that master was 
no other than the devil, the prince and ruler of all mankind, 
the enslaver of the intellect, of the will, and of the soul of 
man. The Prophet of old had foretold of our Divine Lord 
and Redeemer, that He came to break the chains of man's 
slavery, to emancipate him, to take him from out that deep 
and terrible servitude into which he had fallen, and to endow 
him once more with u the freedom of the glory of the chil- 
dren of God." Therefore He came. Among all the other 
titles that belonged to Him is that, preeminently, of the 
emancipator of an enslaved and fallen race. And, if His 
action is to continue in the Church, — if His graces are to How 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 



201 



on through that Church, and His light is to come forth, pure 
and bright and radiant in the Church which He founded, — 
all we have to do is to find that Church ; and, bound to her 
brows, we shall find the crown of the emancipator of the 
human race. That Church we Catholics know and believe 
to be the Mother that has begotten us unto God, through the 
Gospel. 

Now, my friends, how did Christ effect the work of His 
emancipation ? I answer that He emancipated or freed the 
intelligence of man from the slavery of the intellect, which 
is error 5 and that He emancipated the will of man from the 
slavery of the will, which is sin. And He carefully defined 
what manner of freedom He came to found and confer, when 
He said to a benighted race, whom He enlightened : " You 
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free ! " 
And, to a degraded and corrupt race, He said : I am come 
that, where sin hath abounded, grace might abound still more f 
and, in the abundance of His grace, He called us "unto the 
freedom of the children of God." 

Behold, then, the elements of emancipation, as found in 
the actions and in the words of the Son of God, the Re- 
deemer, the Saviour, and the Emancipator. Truth ! Truth 
broadly diffused ; truth borne upon the wings of knowledge 
unto every mind. Not speculation, but truth • not opinion, 
but knowledge ; not study of the truth, but possession of the 
truth. There, says the Son of God, lies the secret of 
your intellectual freedom. Therefore He lifted up His voice ; 
He flung abroad the banner of His eternal truth j He called 
all men to hear the sound of His voice, and to rally round 
the standard of His truth and of His knowledge. And the 
word which He spoke was borne upon the wings of the An- 
gels for all future time, unto the farthest ends of the earth, 
upon the lips of the preaching and infallible Church which 
He founded. I say the " preaching Church/ 7 which He 
founded, for "Faith comes by hearing and the knowledge 
which emancipates the intelligence must come by a living 
voice. But I add : — as no other knowledge save that of the 
pure truth, as it is in the mind of Jesus Christ, thus delivered 
by a living voice, can emancipate the intelligence of man, 
therefore the voice which He commanded to teach the world, 
must bear the unfailing, and infallible, and unmixed message 
of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. For, if that voice can 



202 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



admit the slightest blending of error, — if that voice can fal- 
ter in the delivery of the truth, or mix up the slightest distortion 
of error with that truth, — it ceases to he the voice of Jesus 
Christ, and it only, in its teachings, substitutes one form of 
slavery for another. Oh, if the men of our day would only 
understand this ! if the men who boast of their civilization 
would only understand this, — that whatever is not the truth 
is not the voice nor the message of God ; — whatever, by any 
possibility can be untrue, cannot be the voice of God ; — if 
men would only understand this, that there is no greater in- 
sult than we can offer to a God of Truth than to take a reli- 
gious lie — a distorted view — a false idea, — put it into our 
minds, and say ; " This is the truth of God ; this is religious 
truth ! " But, no ! We boast to-day of our liberality ; we 
boast to-day of the multitude of our sects and of our religious 
institutions ; we boast to day of an open Bible from which 
every man draws — not the word of God, — for I deny that it 
is the Word of God ; — it is the Word of God only when it is 
taken from that page as it lies in the mind of God ; — we 
boast to-day that that JBible is open to every man to look in 
it for the canonization of his own error, lying in the distorted 
meaning w T hich he gives to that divinely-inspired page ; — 
and then we pretend that all this is a mark of religion : and 
the man who would indignantly resent a lie, told him in the 
ordinary avocations and social duties # of life ) — the man who 
would resent, as a deep injury, being taken in in a matter of 
business, in the furnishing of an account, or any such transi- 
tory thing, — that man is precisely the one that is most indif- 
ferent, and careless, and most easily reconciled, when it is a 
matter that lies between him and the God of Truth, whether 
he possesses that truth or not. Yet, I say again, it is a dis- 
reputable thing to be taken in by a lie — to believe a lie. 
It is a mark of intellectual and moral imbecility to cling to a 
lie, and to uphold it as the truth. And remember that, when 
it is a matter between us and God — the interpretation of the 
message of God — the tone that the voice of God takes in 
falling upon our ear, — remember that whatever is not true as 
God, is the worst form of untruth — or, a lie ; and that the 
truth of God is declared, by the Saviour of the world, to be 
the essential, primary element of that emancipation with 
which Jesus Christ came down to free us. 

But, dear friends, grand and magnificent as is the possession 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 203 



of that truth, — luminous as is the light which is poured 
into the soul from Almighty God, through the eyes of 
the mind, opening, as it were, to the illumination of 
Divine truth, — it is not enough to accomplish the free- 
dom of man. The soul of freedom lies not only in the 
mind possessing truth, and thus shaking off the chains of in- 
tellectual slavery, which is error - but it also lies in the will, 
sanctified, strengthened, and purified by the divine grace of 
Jesus Christ. Of what avail would it be to yon, my fellow- 
men, or to me, that we should know all knowledge — that 
we should have all knowledge — if a man is a slave to his 
own passions — if every degrading passion and inclination of 
a base or an inferior nature has only to cry out imperiously 
to be instantly served and gratified at the expense of the 
soul's nobility and life, and at the expense of God's friendship 
and His grace ? Of what avail is knowledge to a man, if 
that man be impure ? Of what avail are the soundest prin- 
ciples or examples, moral or divine, to that man who, holding 
them, does not act up to them, but is dishonest ? And there- 
fore, there is another and a more terrible slavery, even than 
that of the intellect; and that is the slavery of the will. 
Now, to. meet this, Christ our Lord, the divine healer, the 
divine physician of our souls, established certain means by 
which His grace, His strength, His purity, were to be com- 
municated to us, to our wills, just as, by the preaching of the 
Gospel in the Church, her light is communicated to our in- 
telligence. And these means are the sacred morality of the 
Church's laws ; the sacred barriers that she uprears between 
the soul and sin 5 the sacramental graces that she pours forth 
to heal the soul, and purify it, and cleanse it again, if it be 
tainted and sullied by sin ; the agencies that she holds in her 
hands to preserve that soul from a relapse into sin, strength- 
ening it so that it is able to command all its passions, to 
repress all undue and corrupting inclinations, to give a tri- 
umph to the spirit over matter— to the soul over the body ; 
— until the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not only the fountain 
of all truth, but the Creator of all holiness, and its representa* 
tive, be reproduced in the souls of all His children, and a. 
perfect people be reared up in sanctity to God. 

Without this grace of the heart and the will, there is no 
freedom. Without the agency of the Church, I say, as a rule, 
there can be no grace. Without her Sacraments, the will of 



204 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



man — the will of man which may be enslaved — the will of 
man which is enslaved whenever man is in sin — can never be 
touched ; for the sacramental hand of the Church alone can 
touch it. And, here, again, as the word of the Church's 
teaching must be no other than the word of Jesus Christ 
Himself, — not only as it is written in the inspired volumes, but 
as it lies in the mind of God, and, therefore, as the Church is 
bound to explain it ; — so, also, the graces of the Church, and 
the agency that she has in her hands to touch the will, must 
be no other than the very power, the very action, the very 
grace of Jesns Christ. No other hand but His, no other 
power but His — no other influence but His — the Lord, the 
Redeemer, the Saviour, — coining home to every individual 
man, — can purify that man's soul, and strengthen him to gain 
the " victory which conquereth the world," the flesh, and the 
devil — the victory of Divine faith ! For, of what avail to 
me, I ask you, of what avail to me is it that a priest should 
lift up his hand and say, u I absolve thee from thy sin," 
unless that word, that grace, that power to do it, come to that 
priest from Jesus Christ f Of what avail to me that a man pour 
water on my head and say, u I baptize thee in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost/ 7 unless 
that baptism, that water had sacramental influence instituted 
by the Lord, endowed with a peculiar power for this purpose, 
— the cleansing of the soul,— and be tinged mystically with 
the saving blood of the Redeemer I Of what avail to me, 
if I come to this altar, open my mouth, and receive what 
appears to be a morsel of bread, unless the Redeemer of the 
world had said : u Without Me you can do nothing. And 
now I will come to you. Take ye — and eat of this 5— for 
this is My body and My blood." Therefore, it is the action 
of Jesus Christ that must remain as powerful, as pure, as 
merciful in the dispensation of the Church's grace, as her 
words must be pure from error, and unmixed with error upon 
the lips of the Church's preaching ? 

Behold the two. great elements of man's emancipation. 
Wherever these are not, there is slavery. He that believes 
a lie, — and, above all, a religious untruth, — is a slave. He 
that commits sin is the slave of sin. What avails it that you 
emancipate a man — strike the chains off his hands — send him 
forth, in name a free man, — send him forth with every con- 
stitutional right and civic privilege upon him, — send him 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 205 



forth, glorying in his freedom, without understanding it, and, 
perhaps, unprepared to use it as he should ? If you leave 
that man's intelligence under the gloom of ignorance, — if you 
leave that man's will under the dominion of sin and of his 
own passions, have you made him a free man ? You call him 
a free man. But God in Heaven does not so regard him 5 
and, unfortunately, the devil in hell laughs and scoffs at 
your idea of freedom. 

And, now, my friends, this being the mission, declared and 
avowed by our Divine Lord, — this, consequently, being the 
mission confided into the hands of the Church to be fulfilled 
by her, let us turn to the Church's history and see whether 
she has been faithful to her duty in thus applying the ele- 
ments of emancipation to man. It is a historical question, 
and one that I must deal with, principally, historically. Now, 
in order to understand it, we are, first of all, to consider, what 
was the state of the world when the Church began her mis- 
sion ? How did she find society ? Was it barbarous or 
civilized? I answer that the Church's mission, when she 
first opened her lips to preach the Gospel, was to a most 
civilized and highly intellectual people. Augustus was in his 
grave ; but the " Augustan era," the proudest, the highest, and 
most civilized, yet shed its influence over the world. All the 
wisdom of the ancients, all the learning of Pagan philosophy, 
was represented in that august assembly before which, upon 
the hill of Athens, Paul the Apostle, stood up to preach " the 
Resurrection and the Life." All the light of ancient philo- 
sophy was there. All the glory of art was there in its 
highest perfection. All the resources then attained to in 
science were there. Men were glorying in that day, as they 
are in this, in their material progress and in their ideas. But, 
how was this society constituted with regard to slavery ? 
Why, my friends, in that ancient Pagan world, we read that, 
at the time when there were sixty thousand inhabitants in 
the city of Athens, the capital of Greece, there were forty 
thousand slaves, and only twenty thousand freemen. We 
read how, in the society of Sparta, another city of Greece, the 
slaves had so multiplied that the masters lived in constant 
fear lest their servants — their bondsmen — should rise up in 
their power and destroy them. We read of Rome, that the 
slaves were in such numbers, that, when it was proposed in 
the Senate that they should wear a distinct dress, it was 



206 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



immediately opposed on the ground that, if they wore a dis- 
tinct dress, they would come to recognize their own numbers 
and strength, and would rise and sweep the freemen from the 
soil. So much for the civilized nations. What do we know 
of the barbarous nations ? Why, Herodotus the historian tells 
us, that, on one occasion, a nation of Scythians went forth and 
invaded Medea ; and, when they returned, after a successful 
war, flushed with triumph and with victory, such was the 
number of the slaves that they had enslaved, — from the 
misfortunes of war and other causes, — that actually, when 
they returned in all then might, they found that, in their 
absence, their slaves had revolted ; and they were chased by 
their own servants — their own slaves — from their own coun- 
try. How were these slaves treated! They were treated 
thus: We read that wmen a certain Prefect of Rome, 
Pedanius Secundus, was murdered by one of his slaves, as 
a matter of course, following the law, there were four hundred 
of that man's bondsmen taken, and they were all put to death 
wuthout mercy, without pity : — four hundred innocent men 
for the fault and the crime of one. Had the slave any rights! 
None whatever. Had the slave any privilege or recognition 
of any kind? None whatever. His life and his blood were 
accounted as of no value ; and what was still worse, the 
highest philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome, writing on 
this subject, laid down as a principle, that these men were 
created by the gods, as they called' them, for the purpose of 
slavery ; that they came into this world for no other purpose; 
that they had no souls capable of appreciating any thing 
spiritual, no feelings to be respected, no eternal, or even 
temporal, interests to be consulted ; so that a man who had 
the misfortune to fall into slavery, found himself not only 
enslaved but degraded. 

Such was the state of the world wdien the Catholic Church 
began her mission. And now, what was the first principle 
that the Church preached and laid down ? The first emanci- 
pating principle that .the Catholic Church announced was 
this : She proclaimed that slavery was no degradation ; that 
a man might be enslaved, and yet not be degraded. This was 
the first principle by which the Church of God recognized the 
nobility of the soul of man, — no matter from what race he 
sprang; no matter what misfortune may have fallen upon 
him 5 — that he might be enslaved ; nay, more, that his very 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 207 



slavery might bring its own specific duties upon him ; but 
that slavery, in itself, was no degradation. You may say to 
me, perhaps, this was a false principle. I answer, no ; it is 
not a false principle. I am a slave 5 yet I am not a degraded 
man. I am a slave ; for, many years ago, I swore away, at 
the foot of the altar, my liberty, my freedom, and my will, 
and gave them up to God. Am I therefore degraded ? No. 
We are all slaves in this sense — that the Scriptures tell us that 
" we have been bought at a great price " by our Lord Jesus 
Christ ; and, therefore, that we are the servants and bonds- 
men of Him who redeemed us. But who will say that such 
slavery as this is degradation ? No, my friends. You may, 
perhaps, say to me, that we all admit our servitude to God. 
Well, this is precisely the point ; and St. Paul, proclaiming 
the first elements of the Church's laws and doctrines touch- 
ing slavery, declared that even a man who was enslaved by 
his fellow-man was no longer a slave, — that is, in the sense of 
a degraded slave ; because Almighty God, through His 
Church, recognized that man's soul, — recognized his feelings, 
— and commanded him to be faithful, even as a slave, — not 
to the master as to a man, but to the master for the sake of 
Jesus Christ, and as reflecting authority and power over him. 
These are the express words of the Apostle y and mark how 
clearly they bring out this grand principle. He says : 
" Whosoever are servants under the yoke, let them account 
their masters worthy of all honor, lest the name of the Lord 
and His doctrines be blasphemed." He goes on to say : 
" You, slaves, obey those that are your masters according to 
the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your 
hearts, as to Jesus Christ Himself; not serving to the eye, 
as it were, pleasing men, but as the servants of Christ ; doing 
the will of God from the heart, with a good will 5 serving as 
to the Lord, not to man." This was the first grand element 
of the Church's emancipation. She removed from the slave 
the degradation of his slavery, by admitting that, slave as he 
was, he could, in obeying his master, obey God ; — transfer his 
allegiance, as it were, from the man to the principle of God's 
authority reflected in that man ; and thus serve, not as to the 
eye of man, but to the eye of Jesus Christ. 

Secondly, the Apostle declares that slavery ceased to be a 
degradation when the master and owner was as much a 
slave as his bondsman. And this he declares in this principle : 



208 



FATHER BUEEE'S DISCOURSES. 



11 And you, masters," lie says, " do the same thing as 
your slaves ; forbearing threatening, knowing that the Lord 
both of them aud of you is iu heaven, aud that there is 
no respect of persons with Him." " Masters," he adds, " do 
to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that 
you also have a Master who is in heaven." The pagan idea 
was that the master was the absolute governor and ruler of 
his slave, — the lord of life and death 5 — that that slave was 
created to do his will ; and that, for his treatment of his servant, 
he was not responsible before God. The Apostle, in the 
name of the Church, imposes upon the master and slave the 
common servitude to the one God ; and then he lays down 
the third great element, by which he relieves slavery of its 
degradation, when he says : •* There is, in Christ, neither 
bondsman nor freeman, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Bar- 
barian nor Scythian ; but Christ, the Lord, in all 5 and ye 
are all one in Jesus Christ." 

These, my friends, were the first words of consolation, of 
hope, of manly sympathy with his fellow-men in slavery, that 
ever came from the lips of a teacher, religious or otherwise, 
from the world's creation. And these came from the lips of 
the Catholic Church, speaking through her divinely-inspired 
Apostle. Therefore I claim for her that, in the beginning, 
she was faithful to her mission ; and that she proclaimed that 
she came to console the afflicted in his slavery, and to lift 
from him the weight of the degradation which was upon him. 
Then the history of the Church began. You all know, my 
dear friends, how, five centuries after the Church was estab- 
lished, the barbarians — the Goths, the Vandals, the Alans, 
and all these terrible nations from the north, swept down over 
the Eornan empire, and destroyed every thing ; broke up 
society • reduced it to its first chaotic elements : and slavery 
was the universal institution, all the world over. Every 
nation had it. The captive that was taken in war lost his 
liberty, not for a .day, but for ever. The man who was 
oppressed with debt was taken for his debt and sold into 
slavery. The Church of God alone was able to meet these 
barbarians, to confront them, and to evangelize to them her 
gospel of liberation 5 and to soften, and gradually to dimin- 
ish, until, at length, she all but destroyed, the existence of 
this unjust slavery. The Church of God — the Catholic 
Church — was the only power that these barbaric nations 



THE CHUECR THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 203 



would respect. The Pope of Rome was the great upholder 
of trie principles of liberty; because liberty means nothing 
more nor less than the assertion of right for every man, and 
the omnipotence of the law, which insures him his right, and 
defines that right. 

And how did the Pope act ? How did the Church carry 
out her mission? My friends, we find that, from the 
fifth century, — from the very time that the Church began 
to be known, and commenced to make her influence 
felt among the nations, — among the very first ordinances 
that she made, were some for the relief of the slave. She 
commanded, for instance, under pain of censure, that no mas- 
ter was to put his slave to death ; and you may imagine 
under what depths of misery society was plunged, and from 
what a state of things the Catholic Church has saved the 
world, when I tell you that one of the ordinances of a Coun- 
cil in the sixth century was, that if any lady (now just imag- 
ine this to yourselves !) — being offended by any of her slaves, 
or vexed by them, put the slave to death, that she was to 
undergo several long years of public penance for the crime 
she had committed. What a state of society it was, when a 
delicate lady, arraying herself, perhaps, for an evening meet- 
ing, — a ball or a party, — with her maiden slaves around her, 
dressing her, adding ornament to ornament, — that, if one of 
them made a slight mistake, the delicate lady was able to 
turn round, — as we read in the Pagan historians, and as 
Roman ladies did,— and thrust her ivory-hilted dagger into 
the heart of her poor slave, striking her dead at her feet. 
The only power that was recognized on the earth, to make 
that lady responsible, — the only power that she would listen 
to, — the only representative of the law that was thus to fling 
its protection over the unhappy slave, was the power of the 
mighty Church, that told that lady, if she committed herself 
to such actions as these, that outside the Church's gates she 
should kneel, in sackcloth and ashes ; that she should kneel 
far away from the altar and the sacrifice ; that she should 
kneel there until, after long years of weeping and penitence, 
as a public penitent, she was to be permitted- to crawl into 
the Church, and take the place of the penitent, nearest the 
door. 

And so, in like manner, we find the Church, in the pro- 
gress of ages, making laws, that, if any slave offended his 



210 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



master, and, if the master wished to punish him then and 
there, by some terrible form of aggravated punishment, and 
if that slave fled from his master, there was only one place 
where he could find security, and that was the Church. For 
the Church declared that the moment a slave crossed her 
door and entered into her sanctuary, that moment the mas- 
ter's hand was stayed, and the slave was out of his power, 
until the case was fairly tried, and a proportionate and just 
punishment imposed, as would be imposed on any other man 
who committed the same offence. 

Again : we find the same Church, in the course of ages, 
imposing a threat of excommunication upon any man who 
should capture a manumitted or emancipated slave, and re- 
duce him to slavery again. Further on, w r e find the same 
Church making a law that, when a Bishop, or a Cardinal, or 
a great ecclesiastic died, all those w T ho w:ere in servitude to 
him should be immediately freed. These were the freedmen 
of the Church, as they were called. 

But you may ask, why did she not abolish slavery at once u ? 
And this is the accusation that is made against the Catholic 
Church, even by such a man as Guizot, the great French 
statesman and philosopher, who says: "I admit that the 
Catholic Church, in her action, in her genius, always tried to 
preach the subject of emancipation ; but why did s.he not do 
it at oncet" I answer, the Church of God is the only power 
upon earth which, at all times, has knowm how to do good, 
and to do it w-isely and justly. It is not enough to do a good 
thing because it is good : it must be well done ; it must be 
wisely done; there must be no injury accompanying the do- 
ing of it ; nor no injustice staining the act. The Church of 
God could not, from the very beginning, have emancipated 
without doing a grave injustice to the society which she 
would disturb, to the owners of these slaves against whom 
she might be accused of robbery ; but the greatest injustice 
of all to the poor slaves themselves, who were not prepared 
for the gift of freedom. And therefore, taking her own 
time, proclaiming her principles, acting upon them strongly 
yet sweetly, and drawing to her every interest; conciliating 
men's minds ; creating public opinion among society; trying 
to save every man from injustice; and in the meantime, pre- 
paring mankind, by faith and by sanctity, for the gift of free- 
dom, — she labored slowly, patiently, but most efficaciously 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 211 



in the great work of emancipation. For, ray friends, there 
are two injustices, and grave injustices, which may accom- 
pany this great act of emancipation. There is the in- 
justice which may affect the whole of society, may break up 
public order, may ruin interests 5 and that is the injustice 
which a sudden and a rash emancipation inflicts upon the 
society upon which it falls. For instance, as in Europe in 
the early middle ages, slaves who, according to St. Augustine, 
were enslaved, not from any inherent right of man over his 
fellow-man, but in punishment for their own sins, — these 
slaves formed a great portion of the public property. "* Nearly 
one-half of mankind were enslaved to the other half. The 
consequence was that the disposition of property was affected 
by them ; that the tillage and cultivation of the land depended 
upon them ; that in fact the status and condition of the half 
who owned the slaves would be affected ; so that, by a sudden 
and rash emancipation, the freeman of to-day would become 
a slave, in the poverty and in the unlooked-for privation and 
misery that would come upon him by the loss of all that he 
possessed in this world. Was that injustice to be done? 
No ; because it would defeat its own end. The end of all 
society is peace and happiness. The end of all society is 
concord and mutual straining to one end 5 each man helping 
his fellow-man : and the Church was too wise to throw such 
an element of universal discord among all the other dissen- 
sions that were tearing the heart of the world in those days — 
to throw in the element of dissension, and to set one half 
the world against the other. 

But far greater is the injustice which is done to the poor 
slave himself, by a sudden, an unexpected, and a sweeping 
emancipation. For, my friends, next to Divine grace and 
faith, the highest gift of God to man is freedom. Freedom ! 
sacred liberty ! — within these consecrated walls, — even as a. 
priest, I say that sacred freedom is a high gift of God : but 
the history of our race tells us that it is a gift that has at all 
times been most fatally abused 5 and the poet says, with 
bitter truth, that at an early age he was left 

" Lord of himself — that heritage of woe." 

Liberty, — lordship over one's self, — unfettered freedom is, in 
most cases, a " heritage of woe," and especially when a man 
does not understand what it means, and is not prepared for 



212 



FA THEE BUBKE'S DISCOURSES. 



its legitimate exercise. What is liberty? that sacred word 
so often used, so frequently abused, so little understood ? 
All ! rny friends, what is liberty ? In our days men fall into 
two most fatal errors : they have a false idea of religious 
liberty, and they have a false idea of civil liberty. The 
false idea of religious liberty is, that it consists in unfettered 
freedom for every man to believe whatever hie likes. A 
nation is said to have religious liberty when every man 
believes whatever notion of religion comes into his head ; 
and consequently there are as many sects as there are religions. 
Men say, u Grand ! glorious ! this is religious liberty ! 77 
But yesterday there was only one faith in Italy, for instance ; 
to-day we hear men boasting : " Thirty thousand hearers, 
ten thousand preachers," of some new creed ; and in twenty 
years' time, if this goes on, we shall have Italy broken up 
into Quakers, and Shakers, and Baptists, and Anabaptists, 
and all sorts of religious sects. Is this religious liberty ? 
Men say it is. Well, if this be religious liberty, all I can 
say is, that the definition that Christ our Lord gave of 
religious liberty is wrong j for He said : u You shall know 
the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Truth is one, 
and only one : it cannot contradict itself. You shall know 
the truth, and have it ; and in that you shall find your free- 
dom. It will follow from this that the more any nation or 
people approach to unity of thought, they approach to liberty, 
provided that one thought represent the truth of Jesus 
Christ. 

Civil liberty is also misunderstood. Many imagine, nowa- 
days, that the essence of civil liberty is the power to rise 
up at any time and create a revolution, — to rise up against 
the rulers and governors — against the fixed form of constitu- 
tional law, — and upset every thing. That is the idea, for 
instance — the popular idea, unfortunately— now in the minds 
of many in Europe. In France, for example, nearly every 
man that knows how to read and write has a copy of a con- 
stitution in his pocket, which he has drawn out himself to 
be the future constitution of France ; and he is prepared to 
go out and stand on the barricades, and fight for his constitu- 
tion, and kill his neighbor for it. The idea of liberty, too, 
which has taken possession of the minds of many, seems to 
lie in this, — that every man can do as he likes, and what he 
likes. Ah ! if this were brought home to us j if it were 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 213 



brought home to us that every man could do as he liked ; 
that we could be assaulted and assailed at every hand's turn ; 
that every man should go out with his life in his hand ) that 
there was no protection for a man against his neighbor who 
was stronger ; and any man who, boasting of his power, 
says : " I want your money ; I want your means ; I am able 
to take it, and I am at liberty to take it 5 because liberty 
consists in every man doing as he likes 5 " — how would you 
like this liberty, my friends ? No ; the essence of liberty 
lies here : the essence of liberty lies in recognizing and defin- 
ing every man's right, no matter what lie is, from the high- 
est to the lowest in the State. Let every man know his own 
lights, be they great or small, be they limited or otherwise ; 
let every man have the rights that are just and reasonable ; 
let him know his rights ; do not keep him in ignorance of 
them; define them for him by law, no matter what position 
he holds in society : and when every man's rights are defined 
and recognized, and incorporated in law, let that law be put 
up on high : put it, if you will, apon the very altar • and let 
every man in the State, — President, King, Emperor, General, 
soldier, civilian, — let every man, high or low, bow dowm 
before the omnipotence and the supremacy of that law. Let 
that law be there to define every man's rights, and to secure 
them to him, and let every man know that, as long as he 
keeps himself within the exercise of his own rights, as defined 
by law, no power can touch him, no man can infringe upon 
him. Leave him free in the exercise of these rights : that is 
liberty ; the supremacy of the law, the omnipotence of the 
law, — the law which is the expression of matured reason and 
of authority, respecting and defining every man's rights. 
Far more free is the man who is only able to do this thing 
or that, but knows that he can do them, — that knows that 
these are his rights, and that no man can prevent him from 
exercising them, — than the man who has an undefined free- 
dom, which is not preserved or secured to him by any form 
of defined law. 

This is civil liberty. And so it is as great a mistake to 
sa}^, " I can do what I like ; therefore I am free ; I have 
civil liberty," as it is to say, u I can believe what I like ; 
therefore I have religious liberty." No, it is not true. 
Dogma, — the truth of God, — does not leave us at liberty. 
It appeals to us, and we are bound to open our minds to let 



214 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



into our intelligence the truth of God. Any man who refuses 
it commits a sin. We are not at liberty to refuse it. The 
law appeals to us ; we are not at liberty to disobey it. The 
quintessence of civil freedom lies in obeying the law ; the 
quintessence of religious freedom lies in acknowledging the 
truth. 

And now, my friends, this being the case, I ask you what 
greater injustice can you do to a man than to give him that 
liberty, that unlimited freedom, without first telling him his 
rights, defining his rights, establishing those rights by law, 
and without teaching that man that he must respect the law 
that protects him; that he must move within the sphere or 
circle of his rights, and content himself in this? What greater 
injustice can you do to society or to a man himself, than to 
give him freedom without defining what his rights are ? In 
other words, is not the gift of liberty itself a misnomer? Is 
it not simply an absurdity to say to a man, " You are free," 
when that man does not know what is meant by the word free- 
dom ? Look at the history of emancipation, and will you not 
find this to be the case ? The States have emancipated just 
as the Church has emancipated ; but with this difference — 
that the Church prepared the slave before she gave him free- 
dom ; taught him his rights, taught him his responsibilities, 
taught him his duties 5 and then, taking the chains off his 
hands, said : " You are a free man. Respect your rights ; 
move in the sphere of your duties, and bow down before the 
law that has made you free." The State has not said this. 
A few years ago England emancipated the black population 
of Jamaica ; — a sweeping emancipation. The negroes were 
not prepared for it ; they did not understand it. What was 
the first use they made of their liberty ? The first use that 
they made of their liberty was to fling aside the hoe, the 
sickle, the spade, every implement of labor, and sit down 
idly, to famish and starve in the land. Xow, among the 
duties of man, defined by every law, the first duty is labor, 
— work. The only respectable man in this world is the man 
who works. The idler is not a respectable man. If he were 
seated upon ^reat Caesar's thone, and there he would be an 
idler, I would have no respect, but only contempt for him. 
This was the first rise that the negro population of Jamaica 
made of their freedom. What was the consequence? That 
their state to-day, after many years of emancipation, is one 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 215 



of absolute misery ; while, during the time they were slaves, 
they were living in comparative comfort ; because, small as 
the circle of their rights was, strictly defined as it was, still 
it had its duties : they knew their duties, they knew the law ; 
they were protected in the exercise of their duties ) and the 
consequence was they were a thriving people. 

Look to the Southern States of this Union. You have 
emancipated your negro population, with one sweeping act 
of emancipation. I need not tell you that by so doing (I do 
not wish to speak politics ; I do not wish to enter upon this 
question in any way that would be, perhaps, insolent in a 
stranger- — but this I do say) — that in that sweeping 
emancipation, though you did what the world may call 
a grand and a glorious thing, you know well how many 
you deprived of the very means of subsistence by it, and 
what misery and poverty you brought upon many families 
by it, and how completely, for a time, you shattered the 
framework of society by it. Have you benefited the slave 
population by it ? — by this gift of freedom, — a glorious gift, 
a grand gift, provided that the man who receives it knows 
what it is; provided that the man who receives it is pre- 
pared to receive it and use it as he ought. But, either to 
the white man or the colored man, the gift of freedom is a 
fatal gift, unless he knows how to use it. Did you prepare 
these men for that freedom before you gave it to them ? Did 
you tell them that they should be as laborious as they were in 
slavery ? that labor was the first duty of every man ? Did 
you tell them that they were to respect the rights of their 
fellow-men, to whom, slaves yesterday, they are made equals 
to-day? Did you tell them that they were not to indulge in 
vain, idle dreams of becoming a privileged class in the land, 
to govern and rule their fellow-men to whom the law only 
made them constitutionally and politically equal? Did you 
tell them that they were not to attempt instantly, forcibly, to 
overstep certain barriers that the G-od of nature set* between 
them ; but that they were to respect the race that manumitted 
and emancipated them ? I fear you did not. I have had 
evidence of it. What use have they made of this gift of 
freedom ? Ah ! children as they were, though grown into 
the fulness of material manhood, — children as they were, 
without education, without knowledge, — what use could they 
make of their freedom ? What use do you and I make of 



216 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



our freedom ? we who are born free, we whose education and 
every thing surrounding us from our infancy, all tend to make 
us respect and use well that freedom. Is there that purity, 
that self-respect, that manly restraint over a man's passions, 
— is there that assertion of the dominion of the soul over 
the inferior nature stamped upon the Christian society 
and the white society of the world to-day, that would lead 
them to imagine that it is so easy for a poor child of slavery 
to enter into the fulness of his freedom ? I fear not. 

Well, my friends, still they are there before us. The 
dreams of the political economist will not teach them to use 
their freedom. The vain, ambitious, and I will add, impious 
purposes and theories propounded by those who would in- 
sinuate that the colored man was emancipated for the purpose 
of a commingling of races, will not teach them to use their 
freedom. The ambitious hopes of ascendency held out before 
them, will not teach them to use their freedom. The political 
parties that would make use of them for their own ends will 
never teach them to use their freedom. You have emanci- 
pated them ; and I deny that they are free. I say that they 
are slaves. You have emancipated them. Tell me, what 
religious freedom have you given them ? You have put an 
open Bible into the hand of a man who only learned to read 
yesterday ; and you have told him, with bitter sarcasm, to go 
and find the truth of God in a book that has puzzled the 
greatest and wisest of the earth's philosophers. You have 
sent him in search of religion in a book that has been quoted 
by every false teacher, from the day that it was written, by 
prostituting that sacred, inspired word, and twisting it to lend 
a color to his arguments. You have sent teachers to them, 
teachers who began their lesson, began their teaching, by 
declaring that, after they had labored all day, they might 
have been mistaken all through ; and that they had no fixed, 
immutable truths to give to the poor emancipated mind. You 
know it. What religious freedom have you given them ? 
Have you touched their hearts with grace ? You have given 
them, indeed, forms of religion, which you boast are suited to 
them, because you allow these overgrown, simple children to 
bellow and to cry out what seems to be the word of praise 
and of faith. Ah, my friends, it is not this corporeal exercise 
that will purify their hearts, strengthen their souls, subdue 
their passions, and make them, first of all, respect themselves 



THE CHURCH THE TRUE EMANCIPATOR. 217 

and then respect their fellow-citizens of the land. You have 
emancipated them ; but you have not freed them. They shall 
be free only in the day when these poor darkened intelli- 
gences shall have been led into the full light of God's know- 
ledge, and when the strong animal passions of a race that, 
from whatever cause it be, seems to have more of the animal 
than many other races of mankind ; w T hen their strong pas- 
sions are subdued, their hearts purified, their souls cleansed, 
graces received to be prized and to be retained j — then, 
a ad only then, will you have emancipated the negro. You 
have not done it as yet. But it is the Church's work to do 
it. It is her mission and her duty. She knows that He who 
came and died upon the cross, died not only for you but for 
these children of the mid-day sun. She knows that every 
soul of these colored people is as • dear to the heart of God 
as the proudest and the best, the most learned and the most 
refined among you. She knows that if she can only make 
a truly faithful Catholic Christian out of the humblest of 
these children of the desert, that she will have made some- 
thing more noble — grander and greater — than the best 
among you, if you be sinners 5 and she, therefore, sends to 
them her clergy, her consecrated children — priests and nuns. 
She says to the noblest and the best in the land : " Arise ; go 
forth from house and home, from father and friends ; go, 
seek a strange land and strange people ; go in among 
them ; go, seek the toil and the burning heat and the burden 
of the day 5 go seek the man whom many men despise ; kneel 
down at his feet, and offer him J esus Christ. " We have 
been told by a high authority that this is an act of justice 
which England offers, — an act of reparation which Catholic 
England offers to America; for, great as has been the crisis 
of the late war, the slavery which was in America, — the 
highest ecclesiastical authority in England tells us, sanctioned 
by the voice of history, — has not been your creation, my 
American friends : it was England's creation. It was forced 
upon you 5 and, from having begun, it became a necessity. 
And, therefore, England to-day sends her children 5 and they 
come with humility, but with earnestness and zeal, and they 
say to you — to you, Catholics, — many — perhaps, a vast major- 
ity among you — of Irish parentage or Irish descent, — they 
say to you, — children of a faithful nation, children of a 
race that has always been intellectual enough to recognize 

10 



218 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the one truth, keen enough to know its value, energetic 
enough to grasp it with a firm hand, — lovers as you have been 
of freedom, worshippers at the shrine of your religious and 
your national liberty, — they ask you, children of a race of 
doctors, of martyrs, of apostles, to lend a helping hand to 
the Catholic Church to-day, and to aid her to emancipate 
truly those who have obtained only freedom in name, and to 
complete that work which can only be done by a touch of 
the hand of J esus Christ. 

Your presence here this evening expresses your sympathy 
with the high and noble purpose that has brought these chil- 
dren, the consecrated ones of the Church of God, to this coun- 
try ; and they appeal to you, through me : — and they have a 
right to appeal to you, through me, and I have a right to 
speak to you in this cause of freedom ; for my brother, wear- 
ing this same habit, the venerable and holy Bartholomew Las 
Casas, the first Dominican that ever landed in America, in 
the very train of Christopher Columbus himself, — was the first 
man that raised his voice to proclaim to the poor Indian the 
birthright of that higher freedom that consists in the know- 
ledge and the grace of Jesus Christ. We only ask }^ou to 
help us to diffuse that knowledge and that grace — that know- 
ledge which is the freedom of the intellect — that grace which 
is the freedom of the will, and without which double freedom 
there is no emancipation ; for the fetters may fall from the 
hand, but the chain is still riveted upon the soul. Freedom 
is a sacred thing ; but, like every sacred thing, it must be 
seated in the soul of man. Bodily freedom is as nothing 
unless the soul be emancipated by the holy Church of God. 
Your presence here this evening attests your sympathy with 
this great work ; and, my friends ! as you have contributed 
materially, I ask you to contribute also intellectually and 
spiritually ; — intellectually, by the sympathy of your intel- 
ligence with the labor of those holy priests ; and spiritually, by 
praying to God, who came to emancipate the world, that He 
might make perfect the weak and inefficient action of man- 
kind and of the State, by pouring forth His spirit of light and 
grace among these poor children and strangers who are in 
the land. 



THE MONTH OF MARY. 



[A Sermon delivered by Very Rev. T. JST. Burke, O.P., in the church of 
» St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, May 1, 1872.] 

We are commencing this evening the devotions to the 
Blessed Virgin, to which the Church invites all her children, 
during the month of May. The faithful, at all seasons, in- 
voke the mercy of God through the intercession of the Blessed 
Virgin Mother. But more especially during this sweet month, 
the opening of the beautiful year, does our Holy Mother in- 
vite our devout thoughts and prayers to the Mother of God, 
and put before us the Blessed Virgin's claims and titles to 
our veneration and love. Guided by this Catholic instinct 
and spirit, we are assembled here this evening, my dear 
brethren, and it is my pleasing duty to endeavor to unfold 
before your eyes the high designs of God which were matured 
and carried out in Mary. And, first of all, I have to remark 
to you, as I have done before — that in every work of God 
we find reflected the harmony and the order which is the 
infinite beauty of God Himself. The nearer any work of 
His approaches to Him in excellence, in usefulness, in neces- 
sity, the more does that work reflect the beauty and harmony 
of God who created it. Now, dearly beloved, the highest 
work that ever God made — that it ever entered into His 
mind to conceive — or that He ever executed by His omnipo- 
tence — was the sacred humanity, or the human nature of Jesus 
Christ -j and, next to Him, in grandeur, in sanctity, necessity, 
is the institution of, or the creation of, the Catholic Church of 
God. When, therefore, we come, as pious children of the 
Church, to examine her doctrines, to meditate upon her pre- 
cepts, to analyze her devotions, we naturally find ourselves 
at once in the kingdom of perfect harmony and order. 
Every thing in the Church's teaching harmonizes with 
the works of the human intelligence ; every thing in the 
Church's moral law harmonizes with the wants of man's 
soul. Every thing in the Church's liturgy, or devotions 



220 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



harmonizes with man's imagination and sense, in so far as 
that imagination and sense help him to a union with 
God. And so, every thing in the Church's devotion 
harmonizes with the nature around us, and within us, 
and with that reflection of nature in its ' highest and most 
beautiful form, which is in the spirit and in the genius of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary. I remember once speaking with a 
very distinguished poet — one of world-wide reputation and 
honorable name, — a name which is a household word wher- 
ever the English language is spoken ; — and he said to me : 
" Father, I am not a Catholic j yet I have no keener pleas- 
ure or greater enjoyment than to witness Catholic ceremo- 
nial, to study Catholic devotion, to investigate Catholic 
doctrines; nor do I find," said he, "in all that nature or the 
resources of intellect open before me, greater food for poetic 
and enthusiastic thought than that which is suggested to me 
by the Catholic Church.' 7 And, so, it is not without some 
beautiful, harmonious reason that the Church is able to ac- 
count for every iota and every tittle of her liturgy and of 
her devotions. 

And, now, we find the Church, upon this the first of May, 
calling all her pious and spiritual-minded children, and tell- 
ing them that this month is devoted, in an especial manner, 
to the Blessed Virgin Mary. What month is this, my dearly 
beloved ? It is the month in the year when the Spring puts 
forth all its life, and all the evidences of those hidden 
powers that lie latent in this world of ours. You have all 
seen the face of nature at Christmas time, during Lent, even 
at Easter- time, this year : and, looking around you, it seemed 
as if the earth was never to produce a green blade of grass 
again. You looked upon the trees : no leaf gave evidence 
there of life ; all was lifeless, all was barren, all was dried 
up. And to a man who opened his eyes but yesterday, with- 
out the experience of past years, and of past Summers, it 
would seem as if it were impossible that this cold, and barren, 
and winter-stricken earth could ever burst again into the life, 
the verdure, the beauty, and the promise of Spring. But the 
clouds rained down the rain of heaven ; the sun shone forth 
with the warmth of Spring • and, suddenly, all nature is in- 
stinct with life. Now the corn-fields sprout, and tell us that 
in a few months they will teem with the abundance of the 
harvest. Now, the meadow, dried up, and burned, and 



THE MONTH OF MARY. 



221 



withered, and yellow, and leafless, clothes itself with a green 
mantle, robing hill and dale with the beauty of nature, and 
refreshing the eye of man, and every beast of the field 
that feeds thereon. Now the trees that seemed to be utterly 
dried and sapless, — leafless and motionless, save so far as they 
swayed sadly to and fro to every wintry blast that passed 
over them, — are clothed with the fair young buds of Spring, 
most delicate and delightful to the eye and to the heart of 
man, promising in the little leaf of to-day the ample spread 
and the deep shade of the thick Summer foliage that is to 
come upon them. Now the birds of the air, silent daring 
the Winter months, begin their song. The lark rises on his 
wing to the upper air ; and, as he rises, he pours out his song 
in ether, until he fills the whole atmosphere with the thrill of 
his delicious harmony. Now every bud expands, and every 
leaf opens, and every spray of plant and tree sends forth its 
Spring-song, hailing with joy the Summer 5 and all nature is 
instinct with life. How beautiful is the harmony of our de- 
votion and our worship : how delicate, how natural, how 
beautiful the idea of our Holy Mother the Church, in select- 
ing this month — this month of promise — this month of Spring 
— this month of gladness — of serene sky and softened tem- 
perature — this month opening the Summer, the glad time of 
the year, and dedicating it to her who represents, indeed, in 
the order of grace, the Spring-time of man's redemption • 
opening the Summer of the sunshine of God, the first sign of 
the purest life that this earth was able to send forth under the 
eyes of God and man ! Oh, how long and how sad was the 
Winter ! — the winter of God's w T rath — the winter of four 
thousand years, during which the sunshine of God's favor was 
shut out from this world by the thick clouds of man's sin 
and of God's anger ! How sad w T as that Winter that seemed 
never to be able to break into the genial Spring of God's 
grace, and of His holy favor and virtue again ! No sunbeam 
of divine truth illumined its darkness. No smile of divine 
favor gladdened the face of the spiritual world for these four 
thousand years. The earth seemed dead and accursed, in- 
capable of bringing forth a single flower of promise, or send- 
ing forth a single leaf of such beauty that it might be fit to 
be culled by the loving hand of God. But, when the Sum- 
mer-time was about to come — when the thick clouds began 
to part — the clouds of anger, the clouds of sin — the cloud of 



2*22 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the cnrse was broken and rent asunder, and gave place to the 
purer cloud of mercy and of grace, that bowed down from 
heaven, overladen with the rain and dew of God's redemption. 
Then the earth moved itself to life in the sunshine, and the 
first flower of hope, the first fair thing that this earth produced 
for four thousand years, in the breaking of winter, before the 
summer, in the promise of spring, was the Immaculate Lily, 
the fairest flower that bloomed upon the root of Jesse, and in 
its bloom sent forth pure leaves, so fragrant, that their sweet 
odor penetrated heaven, and moved the desires of the Most 
High God to enjoy them, according to the word of the 
Prophet : " Send forth flowers as the lily, and yield a sweet 
odor, and put forth leaves unto grace." So bright in. its 
opening was this spiritual flower — the first flower of earth — 
that even the eye of God, looking down upon it, could see 
no speck or stain upon the whiteness of its unfolding leaves. 
" Thou art all fair, my Beloved ! " He exclaimed, " and 
there is no spot or stain upon thee." And this flower — this 
Spring flower — this sacred plant — that was to rear its gentle 
head, unfold its white leaves, and show its. petals of purest 
gold, was Mary, who was destined from all eternity to be 
the mother of Jesus Christ. She was the earth's Spring, full 
of promise, full of beauty, full of joy ; she was the earth's 
Spring that was to be the herald of the coming Summer, and 
of the full, unclouded light of God's own sun beaming upon 
her. And, just as the little leaf that comes forth in the corn- 
field to-day, holds in its tiny bosom the promise of a full ear 
of wheat, bending its rich, autumnal head, the staff of life to 
all men, so Mary's coming, from the beginning, was a herald 
and a promise of His appearance upon the earth, — was the 
announcement that that little plant was to grow and endure, 
until it was to be crowned with the purity of God, and to 
bring forth the bread of life, the manna of heaven, the 
bread of angels, Jesus Christ, the world's Redeemer, the 
Word made flesh. 

How well, therefore, dearly beloved brethren, how well 
does not this fair Spring month of May, this opening of the 
Summer of the year, testify in nature what Mary was in the 
order of grace. And, just as the Almighty God clothes this 
month, in the order of nature, with every beauty, fills the 
fields with fragrance, clothes the hillsides with the varied 
garb of beauty that nature puts forth, — so tender, so fair in 



THE MONTR OF MAEY. 



its early promise ; — so, also, the Almighty God clothed the 
spiritual Spring of man's redemption, which was Mary, in 
every form of spiritual beauty, and robed her in every richest 
garb of divine loveliness of which a creature was capable ; 
so that every gift in God's hand that a human creature was 
capable of receiving, Mary received. For in her the word 
of my text was to be fulfilled. It was a strange promise, 
beloved ; a strange and a startling word that came from the 
inspired lips of the Psalmist, as he said, speaking of His 
chosen : "I have said, you are God's, and all of you the 
sons of the Most High!" That word was never fulfilled 
until the Son of the Most High became the son of a woman. 
This was the meaning of St. Augustine, when he says: "God 
came down from heaven, in order that He might bring man 
from earth to heaven, and make him even as God." Thus 
it was that man, in the Child of Mary, united with God, 
became the son of the Most High. Thus it was that, in 
virtue of the union of the human and divine which took 
place in Mary, we have all received, by the grace of adop- 
tion, the faculty to become children of God. " But to as 
many as received Him," says St. John, " to them did He 
give the power to be made the sons of God." And this was 
the essential mission, the inherent idea of Christianity, — to 
make men the sons of God ; to make you and me the sons of 
God, by infusing into us the spirit of Jesus Christ, and 
bringing forth, in our lives, and in our actions, and in our 
thoughts, and in our inner souls, as well as in the outer man, 
the graces and glorious gifts that Jesus Christ brought down 
to our humanity in Mary's womb. 

Never has this idea been lost to the Catholic Church. My 
friends and brethren, you are living now in the midst of 
strangers. You hear the wildest theories propounded every 
day, in philosophy, in science 5 but in nothing are the theo- 
ries or the vagaries of the human mind so strange as when 
they take the form of religious speculation or religious doubt. 
The notion prevalent among all men outside of the Catholic 
Church, nowadays is, that man has within him, naturally, 
without the action of God, without the action of Christ, the 
seeds of the perfection of his life 5 that, by his own efforts, 
and by his own study, and by what is called the spirit of 
progress, a man may attain to the perfection of his own 
being without God, and become all that God intended him to 



£24 



FATHER BURKE 1 S DISCOURSES. 



become. That notion is antagonistic to and destructive of 
the very first vital principle of Christianity. The vital 
principle of Christianity is this : the Son of God came down 
from heaven and became man, and the child, the true child, 
of a woman, in order that mankind, in Him and through Him, 
might be able to clothe itself with His virtues, and so become 
like to God. And in that likeness to God lies the whole 
perfection of our being ; and the end of Christianity is to 
bring every sufficient agency to bear upon man ; to make 
that man like to God ; to make him as the Son of God. u I 
have said, 6 Ye are God's, and all of you sons of the Most 
High!'" 

God is a God of truth. Man must be a man of truth in 
order to be like to God. God possesses the truth. He does 
not seek for it. He has it. He does not go groping, 
sophisticating, and thinking, and arguing in order to come at 
the truth. Truth is God Himself. And so, in like manner, 
man, to be a child of God, must have the truth, and not look 
for it. God is sanctity and purity in Himself. Man must 
be holy and pure, in order to be made the son of God. He 
must be free from sin, in order to be like to God, the Father. 
He must have a power over his passions to restrain them, 
to be pure in thought, in word, and in action, in soul and in 
body, before he can be made like to the Son of God. And 
that religion alone which has the truth and gives it ; which 
has grace and gives it 5 which touches sin and destroys it ; 
which enables the soul to conquer the body; which holds up 
in her sanctuaries the types of that purity which is the high- 
est reflection of the infinite purity of Jesus Christ ; — that 
religion alone can be the true religion of God. Every other 
religion is a lie. But the world is unable to believe this. 
Men compromise with their passions. Men go to a certain 
extent in satisfying their evil inclinations. Men refuse 
to accept the truth because the truth humbles them. 
Hence the Protestant maxim : " Read the Bible, read the 
Bible, and do not listen to any priest ! These Catholics 
are a priest-ridden people ! Whatever the priest says in 
the Church is law with the Catholics." They refuse the' 
humility of this. They will not take the truth. They 
must find it for themselves; and the man who seeks it, by 
the very fact of seeking it, shows he is not the son of God. 
I say this much because, my dear friends, I w r ish you to 



THE MONTR OF MARY. 



225 



guard against the wild, reckless spirit that is abroad in the 
world to-day ; I wish to guard you in your fidelity to the 
Church of God, your mother, in your fidelity to her teaching, 
in your fidelity to her Sacraments ; that word that she puts on 
my lips and on those of such as I am — that sacramental grace 
that she puts into the hands of the priest for you ; these are 
the elements of your salvation 5 these are the means by which 
every one of you may become the child of God : and there 
is* no perfection, no scheme of perfection, no secret of success, 
no plan of progress outside of this that is not an institution 
of the enemy, " a delusion, a mockery, and a snare." And 
all this we get through Mary, because Mary was the chosen 
instrument in the hands of God to give to Him that human 
nature in which man was made even to the Son of God. 

Mary's coming upon the earth, therefore, was a Spring-time 
of grace. Mary's appearance in this world was like the 
morning star when, in the morning, after the darkness and 
tempest of the night, the sailor, standing on the prow of the 
ship, looks around to find the eastern point of the horizon, 
and he sees, suddenly rising out of the eastern wave, a silver 
star, beautiful in its pure beauty, trembling as if it were a 
living thing. And he knows that there is the east, for this 
is the morning star. He knows that precisely in that point, 
in a few moments, the sun will rise in all his splendor ; and 
he knows that that sun is coming, because the herald that 
proclaims the sun has risen. The morning star proclaims to 
the wild wanderer on the deep, in the eastern horizon, the 
advent of the coming day. So with us, upon the wild and 
angry waves of sin and of error, and of God's anger and curse. 
Our poor humanity, shipwrecked in the garden of Eden 5 our 
poor humanity, without even the wreck left to us of the Sac- 
rament of Penance 5 our poor humanity, groping in the 
sacrifices and in the oblations of the world, for the love of 
God, the Redeemer, the day-star whose light was to illumine 
the darkness of the world ; — behold, suddenly, the Morning 
Star rises, the pale, trembling, silver beauty of Mary ! Then 
it was known that speedily, and in a few years, the world 
would behold its Redeemer, and mankind would be saved in 
the fulness of Mary's time. Therefore it is that she enters 
so largely into the scheme and plan of redemption, that the 
Almighty God willed that, even as the name of Jesus Christ 
was to be made known to all men, was to be glorified of all 



226 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



men, was to "be proclaimed as the only -name under heaven 
by which man was to be saved 5 so, also, side by side with 
this purpose of God's declaration of the glory of His divine 
Son, came the prophecy of Mary, from the same spirit, that, 
wherever the name of Jesus Christ was heard and revered, 
there, and to the ends of the earth, all generations were to 
call her blessed. " He that is mighty hath wrought great 
things in me," she says : " wherefore, behold, henceforth 
all generations shall call me blessed." 

And now, my friends, going back to the fountain-head of 
our Christianity, going back to the earliest traditions of the 
Church of God, examining, with the light of human scrutiny, 
her spirit, as manifested in the earliest ages of her being, in 
the earliest documents she presents us with, does not every 
man find that wherever the true religion of Christ was propa- 
gated, wherever there was the genius and the instinct of faith 
that adored Jesus Christ, there came the fellow-instinct and 
genius that loved, and revered, and venerated, and honored 
the woman who was His mother. If every other proof of this 
was wanting, there is one proof — a most emphatic proof — and 
it is this : that while the blessed Virgin Mar}^ was yet living, 
during the twelve years that elapsed before her assumption 
into heaven, a religious Order was organized in the Catholic 
Church, devoted to the veneration, and the love, and the 
honor of the Blessed Virgin. A religious Order dating from 
the early times of the prophets — a religious Order founded by 
the sons of the prophets, under the J ewish dispensation, was 
converted to Christianity, and at once banded itself together 
and called itself "The Brethren of Our Lady of Slount 
Carmel." No sooner was Our Lady assumed into heaven, 
than these men spread themselves through Palestine and 
through the East ; and the burden of their teaching and their 
devotion was the glory of the Mother of God; the woman 
who brought forth the Man-God, Jesus Christ. No sooner 
was the Gospel preached than the devotion to the Blessed 
Virgin Mary spread with the rapidity of thought, of senti- 
ment, and of love, through all distant parts ; and when, five 
hundred years later, a man rose up and denied that Mary was 
the Mother of God, we read that when the Church assembled 
at Ephesus, in General Council, the people came from all the 
surrounding countries, and the great city of Ephesus was 
overcrowded with the anxious people, all waiting for the 



THE MONTR OF MARY. 



227 



result of the deliberations, and all praying ; and when, at 
last, the Council of the Holy Church of God put forth its 
edict, declaring that Mary was the true Mother of God, we 
read of the joy that came^from the people's hearts, the cry of 
delight that rang from their lips; the " All Hail ! " that they 
gave to you, Mother in Heaven, spread throughout the uni- 
versal Church; and, never, among the many conclusions of 
her Councils, for eighteen hundred years, never did the holy 
Catholic Church give greater joy to her children, than when 
she proclaimed, in the fifth century, that Mary was the Mother 
of God, and, in the nineteenth century, that Mary was con- 
ceived without sin. 

But as we are entering upon this May's devotions, I wish, 
dearly beloved, to bring unto your notice this very devotion 
of the Month of Mary as a wonderful instance of the rapidity 
with which this devotion to the Mother of God spread 
throughout the Catholic Church. 

It was at the beginning of this present century that this 
devotion of the Month of Mary sprang up in the Catholic 
Church : and the circumstances of its origin are most wonderful. 
Some seventy years ago, or thereabouts, a little child — a poor 
little child scarcely come to the use of reason, — on a beautiful 
evening in May, knelt down, and began to lisp with childish 
voice the Litany of the Blessed Virgin before the image of 
the Child in the arms of the Madonna, in one of the streets 
in Rome. One little child in Borne, moved by an impulse 
that we cannot account for — apparently a childish freak — 
knelt down in the public streets and began saying the Litany 
that he heard sung in the church. The next evening he was 
there again at the same hour, and began singing his little 
Litany again. Another little child, a little boy, on his 
passage, stopped, and began singing the responses. The 
next evening, three or four other children came, apparently 
for amusement, and knelt before the same image of the 
Blessed Virgin, and sang their Litany. After a time — 
a few evenings — some pious women, the mothers of the chil- 
dren, delighted to see the early piety of their sons and 
daughters, came along with them, and knelt down, and 
blended their voices in the Litany; and the priest of a neighbor- 
ing church, said : " Come into the church, and I will light a 
few candles on the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and we will 
all sing the Litany together." And so they went into the 



228 FA THEE B TJRKWS DISCO UBSES. 



church; they lighted up the candles, and knelt; and there 
they sang the Litany. He spoke a few words to them of 
the Blessed Virgin, abont her patience, about her love for her 
Divine Sou, and about the dutiful veneration in which 
she was held by her Son. From that hour the devotion of 
the month of May spread throughout the whole Catholic 
world ; until, within a few years, wherever there was a 
Catholic church, a Catholic altar, a Catholic priest, or a 
Catholic to hear and respond to the Litany, the month of 
May became the Month of Mary, the month of devo- 
tion to the Blessed Virgin. Is not this wonderful? Is 
not this perfectly astonishing? How naturally the idea 
came home to the Catholic mind ! With what love it has 
been kept up ! How congenial it was to the soil saturated 
with the Divine grace through the intelligence, as illumined 
by Divine knowledge and Divine faith ! Does it not re- 
mind you of that wonderful passage in the Book of Kings, 
where the prophet Elias went up into the mountain-top, 
w y hen for three years it had not rained on the land, and 
the land was dried up ; and he went up on the solitary 
summit of the mount, there to breathe a prayer to God to 
send rain upon the land ? While he was praying, in a cave 
in the rock, he told his servant to stand upon the summit 
of the mountain, and to watch all round, and to give him 
notice when he saw a cloud. The servant w 7 atched, and 
returned seven times: "And at the seventh time, behold a 

little cloud arose out of the sea, like a man's foot 

And while he turned himself this way and that way, be- 
hold the heavens grew dark with clouds and wind, and 
there fell a great rain." 

The word, " Mary," means the sea — the Star of the Sea. 
A few years ago, a cloud of devotion, no larger than the foot 
of a little child, in Rome, was seen ; and while men looked 
this way and that way, it spreads over the w T hole horizon of 
the Church of God, and over the whole world ; and then, 
breaking in a rain of grace and intercession, it brings an 
element of purity, and grace, and dignity, and every gift of 
God to every Catholic soul throughout the world. Oh ! 
when I think of the women that I have met in the dear, old 
land of Faith ! — the women oppressed from one cause or 
from another ! — some with sickness in the house ; some with, 
perhaps, a dissolute son ; some with a drunken husband ) 



THE MONTR OF MAEY. 



229 



some with the fear of some great calamity, or of poverty, 
coming upon them j some apprehensive of bad news from 
those that they love 5 — how often have I seen them coming 
to me in the month of May, just in the beginning, and, 
brightening up, thank God, and say : " The month is come ! 
I know she in Heaven will pray for me, and that my prayers 
will be heard ! 99 And I have seen them so often coming be- 
fore the end of the month, to tell me with the light of joy in 
their eyes, that the Mother heard their prayer, and that their 
petitions were granted. Then was I reminded of that mys- 
terious cloud that broke out in the heavens, and rained down 
the saving rain. One have I before me — one whom I knew 
and loved — a holy nun who, for more than fifty years, had 
served God in angelic purity and in heroic sacrifice. For 
seven months she was confined to a bed of pain and of 
suffering that deepened into agony. And during those seven 
months, her prayer to God was, while suffering, to increase 
those sufferings ; — not to let her leave the world until one, 
whom she loved dearly, and who was leading a bad and 
reckless life, should be converted unto God. Weeks passed 
into months, and month followed month ; and most frequently 
did I sit at the bedside of my holy friend. Month 
followed month, for seven long, dreary months, and she 
spent that time upon the cross, truly with Jesus Christ. 
But when the first day of May came — the " Month of 
Mary," — I came and knelt down by her bedside, to cheer 
her with prayer and sympathy. She said to me : u I 
feel that the month is come that will give me joy and relief. 
It is Mary's month ; and it is the month when prayer grows 
most powerful in Heaven, because it is the month in which 
the Mother will especially hear our prayers." Before that 
month was over, he for whom she prayed was converted to 
God, with all the fervor of a true conversion ; and when the 
month was drawing to a close, the sacrifice of pain and 
suffering was accepted ; and she who began the month in 
sorrow, ended it with the joys of Jesus Christ and his Virgin 
Mother. So it is, all the world over. His secret graces are 
poured out at the instance of Mary's prayer. And even as 
she was the Spring-time of grace upon earth, so is she, even 
now in Heaven, by her prayers for us, the Spring-time of 
holy grace, obtaining for us the grace of repentance, the 
grace of prayer, the grace .of temperance, the grace and 



230 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



power of self-restraint ) — in a word, whatever grace we 
demand, that, springing up in our souls, will produce to-day 
the flower and leaf of promise — to-morrow, the fruit of 
maturity — and for eternity, the reward of grace which is the 
everlasting crown of God's glory. 



THE POSITION AND DIGNITY OF THE MOTHER 
OF GOD. 



[A Sermon delivered by Very Rev. T. N. Burlce, O.P., in the Church of 
St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, May 2, 1872.] 

" And to the disciple Jesus said : Son, behold thy mother." 

Dearly Beloved : On last evening I endeavored to 
describe to you the beautiful harmony and analogy between 
the things of nature and the spiritual things of grace, so 
admirably developed and illustrated in the dedication of the 
month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary ; and I told you 
then that on this evening I should endeavor to unfold to you 
the place and the position which the mother of our divine 
Lord holds in the plan of man's redemption. Now, there are 
two great classes that occupy the world to-day, — -two classes 
, of men, who differ in their apprehension of the design of God 
as revealed in the redemption of man. The first are those 
who say, or seem to say, that we did not stand in need of 
redemption at all. They deny the fall of man ; they deny 
the inherent sinfulness of man ; — consequently, they deny 
the necessity of the Incarnation of Almighty God. They 
deny the necessity of the Sacraments, or their efficacy; and 
they say that man's constitution is such, that, — within himself, 
in the very elements of his nature, — by the mere development 
of his natural powers, he may attain to all the purposes of 
God, and to the full perfection of his being. 

Such, for instance, is the doctrine of the wide-spread sect 
of Socinians. Such, in a great measure, are the ideas of a 
number of other sects ) the Unitarians, the Humanitarians, 
believers in human nature alone ; Progressists, men who 
look to this world and to its scientific attainments, and to its 
great developments as effected by man, and reflected in the 
spirit and in the intelligence of man, for all the perfection of 
humanity and of society. This class takes in all those who re- 
ject any definite form of religion at all 3 who put away from 



232 FA TRFE B TJRKWS DISCO TJBSES. 



them all idea of the necessity of any fixed faith. This idea re- 
presents the vast multitude of mankind, to be found every- 
where, and nowhere more numerous than here, in this very land, 
— the men who, with the most accurate ideas on business, on 
commercial transactions, on law, on politics, are only found 
to be following an inaccurate comprehension ; careless, in- 
definite, and not only ignorant of, but willing to be ignorant 
of every specific form of defined faith, or belief in revelation 
at all. They do not give enough to God in their thoughts, 
in their minds, in the acknowledgments of their souls upon 
this question of man's redemption. 

There are, on the other band, a vast number who profess 
Christianity, who, if you will, give too much to God in this 
matter of redemption ; who say that when the Son of God 
became man, He effected the redemption of mankind so com- 
pletely, — that He wiped away the w 7 orld 7 s sin so utterly, — 
that all we have to do is to lean upon Him, to govern our- 
selves by faith, together wdth His justification, His merits ; 
and that, without any concurrent labor of our own, without 
any work on our part, but only the easy operation of " believ- 
ing in Christ," as they put it — that we can be saved. Hence 
we hear so much about justification by faith, and we hear so 
much ribald abuse of the Catholic Sacraments, of fasting, of 
the Holy Mass, of all the exterior usages and sacramental 
appliances of the Holy Catholic Church ; all mocked at, all 
derided as contrary to the spirit of true religion, which simply 
is, according to them, to believe w^ith all your soul in J esus 
Christ, in His redemption, in His atonement, — and all your sins 
are cleansed ! A man may have a thousand deeds of murder 
upon his soul : a man may have loaded himself with every 
most hideous form of impurity 5 a man may have injured his 
neighbor on the right hand and on the left, and may have 
enriched himself upon the spoils of his dishonesty — there is no 
law either of the relations of God to man, or of man to his 
fellow-man ; but only "believe in God and you are saved!" 

Hence, we hear of so many who go out to "camp-meetings" 
and "prayer-meetings," and there work themselves into a 
state of excitement, and say, " Oh, I have found the Lord 
Jesus ! I have found him ! " There is no more question 
about that 5 they are confirmed ; they are " the elect ;" they 
are the "perfect;" they are the " regenerated f and there is 
an end to all their previous sins. They need not shed a tear 



THE DIGNITY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 233 



of sorrow : but only believe in the Lord. They need not 
make an act of contrition, they need not mortify their bodies, 
but only believe in the Lord. It is a smooth and a very easy, 
a remarkably easy, doctrine ; and, if it only led to Heaven, it 
would be, indeed, a sweet and an easy way, by which we 
could enjoy ourselves here as long as we liked, in the in- 
dulgence of every vile passion; and afterwards ton and "lean 
upon the Lord/ 7 and thus get into Heaven. 

Between these two extremes, — the extreme of unbelief, 
and the mistaken view and zeal of what appears to be an 
over-fervent faith, but which in reality is not faith at all, — be- 
cause faith means the apprehension of the truth, and not a dis- 
torted view of this text or that of Scripture ; — between these 
two extremes stands the Holy Catholic Church of God ; and 
she tells us as against the first class, — the " Humanitarians/ 7 — 
that we are a fallen race ; that sin is in our blood ; that sin 
is in our nature ; that that nature is deformed, disfigured by 
sin 5 that the very fountain-head of our humanity was cor- 
rupted in Adam ; and just as, if you disturb the fountain-head 
of the stream, — if you poison it, — the whole current that 
flows from is muddy and disturbed, or poisonous; so the 
whole stream of our humanity that fkrws from the sin of Adam 
is tainted and disfigured and poisoned by sin ; consequently 
that we stood in need of a Redeemer, who would atone for 
our sins, and would, by sacrificing Himself, and making Him- 
self a victim, wipe away the sin of mankind. 

On the other hand, the Holy Catholic Church teaches us, 
as against the second class, that two w r ills, two actions are 
necessary for man's salvation ; namely, the will of God 
and the will of the man who is to be saved; that we 
must unite our will with God, and determine to be 
saved ; otherwise that the will of God, which is never wanting, 
will not alone avail for the sanctification or the salvation of 
any man. That we must not only, with God, w r ill our sal 
vation, but that we must work with God in the work of our 
salvation, according to the words of St. Paul : " In fear and 
trembling we must work out our salvation." That although 
the gift of salvation comes from God, and is His, yet that He 
will not give it except to the man who strains himself to lay 
hold of it, according to that other word of the Apostle : "Lay 
hold of eternal life." God is amply sufficient to save us ; 
God is willing to save us. We can only be saved by His 



234 



FATHER BUBKWS DISCOURSES. 



graces. But if we do not lav hold of these graces, and cor- 
respond with them, there is no salvation for us. Just as if 
yon saw a man who had fallen into the sea, and you threw 
him a rope, by which, if he lay hold of it, you can take him 
into your boat, or draw him on to the land ; — you are willing to 
save him ; you are anxious to save him ■ you have actually put 
into his hands the means by which he may be saved j but if 
he refuses to lay hold of that means of salvation, if he refuses 
the gift of life that you offer him, you cannot force him ; and 
so he is lost by his own fault. 

Now, as it requires, for the salvation of every man among 
us, two wills, two distinct actions, — the will and the action of 
God, our will and our action corresponding with His, — so also, 
in the Eedemption, two things were necessary in order that 
man might be saved. First of all, it was necessary to find 
some victim whose very act was of such infinite value in the 
sight of God, that he might be available for the salvation of 
mankind, and capable of atoning to God's infinite honor and 
glory, which was outraged by sin. A victim must be found 
whose very act is of infinite value. And why J ? Because the 
atonement which he comes to make is infinite ; because no 
- creatine of God, acting as a creature, with finite merit and 
power, and the circumscribed action of a creature, could ever 
atone to Almighty God for sin, which is an infinite evil. 
The first thing, therefore, that is necessary is an infinite 
power of atonement, an infinite power of merit in the victim 
for man's sin. The second thing that is necessary for 
redemption is a willingness and capability on the part of the 
atoner to suffer, and by his sufferings, and by his sacrifices, 
and by his atonement, to wash away the sin. Where shall 
this victim — of infinite merit, yet a victim, — be found ! If 
we demand the first condition — namely, the power of restor- 
ing to God that infinite honor and glory which was outraged 
by sin ; if we demand this, we may seek in vain throughout 
all the ranks of God's creatines j we may mount to the 
heaven of heavens, and seek throughout the choirs of God's 
holy angels j we shall never find him, because such a one is 
seated upon the throne of God Himself. God alone is infin- 
ite in His sanctity, in His graces; and, if He will consent to 
be a victim, in His power of atonement, God alone can do 
it. Man could place the cause there, — man could commit 
the sin j the hand of God alone can take that sin away by 



THE DIGNITY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 285 



atonement. And yet, strange to say, dearly beloved brethren, 
God alone cannot do it ; because God alone cannot furnish 
us with the second privilege of the atoner, — namely, the 
character of a victim. How can God suffer? How can God 
be moved ? How can God bleed and die ? He is happiness, 
glory,. honor, and greatness itself; how can He be humbled 
who is above all things — infinitely glorious in His own 
essence? How can He be grieved who is the essential 
happiness of Heaven? He must come down from Heaven, 
and He must take a nature capable of suffering and pain and 
of the shedding of blood : He must take a nature capable of 
being abused and crushed and victimized, or else the world 
can never find its Redeemer. Yet He must take that nature 
so that every thing that He does as a victim, and every thing 
that He suffers as a victim, in that nature, must be attributed 
to God. It must be the action of God ; it must be the 
suffering of God, or else it never can be endowed with 
the infinite value which is necessary for the atonement of 
man's sin. 

Behold, then, the two great things that we must find, that 
God found in the plan of His redemption. God furnished 
one 5 the earth furnished the other. God furnished the 
infinite merit, the infinite grace, the infinite value of the 
atonement in His own divine and uncreated Word, the Second 
Person of the Holy Trinity 5 but when it was a question of 
finding a victim — of finding a nature in which this Word 
should operate, in finding the nature in which this Word was 
to be grieved, and to be bruised, and to bleed, and to weep, 
and to pray for man, — God was obliged to look down from 
Heaven and find that nature upon the earth. 

Therefore, my dearly beloved brethren, Heaven and Earth 
united in producing Jesus Christ ; and it is as necessary for us 
to believe in the reality of the divinity that, coming down from 
Heaven, dwelt in Him, as it is for us to believe in the reality 
of the humanity which was assumed and absorbed by Him 
into His Divine person. A man may exalt the divinity at 
the expense of the humanity, and may say : " He was divine, 
this man, Jesus Christ ; but remember He was not a true 
man ; He only took a human body for a certain purpose ; and 
then, casting it from Him, went up into the high heaven of 
God." The man who says this is not a Christian ; because 
he does not believe in the reality of the human nature of 



236 



FA THEE BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



J esus Christ. Heretics have said this : and the Church cut 
them off with an anathema. Or we may exalt His humanity 
at the expense of His divinity 3 and say : " He was a true 
man, but he was not united to God by personal union ; 
He was not a divine person but a human person : He was a 
true man, this man who was crucified for our sins — true and 
holy and perfect, — but not God. 77 Heretics have said this, 
and say it to-day. Even Mahomet acknowledged that the 
Lord Jesus Christ was the most perfect of men, but He was 
not God. The man who says this is not a Christian • be- 
cause he does not believe in the Divinity of J esus Christ. 

Now, I think that, from what I have said, you must at 
once conclude that, in the plan of man's redemption, the 
divinity was as necessary as the humanity ; that the human- 
ity was as necessary as the divinity : that the world could 
never be redeemed without the divinity; that man alone 
could not do it : that the world could never be redeemed 
without the humanity ; for God alone could never suffer. 
What follows from all this ? It follows, my dearly beloved, 
in logic and in truth, that, for the world's redemption, Mary 
on earth was as necessary as the Eternal Father in heaven. 
That in the decrees and councils of God — in the plan of 
God, — the Mother of His humanity was as necessary as the 
Father of His divinity ; and that she rises at once, in the 
designs of God, to the magnificent part that was assigned to 
her in the plan of redemption, namely : that the world could 
not be redeemed without her, because she gave the human 
nature of Jesus Christ, without which there was no redemp- 
tion for man. Who died upon the Cross? The Son of God. 
Whose hands were these that were nailed to that hard wood ? 
The hands of the Son of God. What person is this that I 
behold, all covered with wounds, and bleeding and crowned 
with thorns? Who is this sorrow-stricken person? That is the 
Second Person of the adorable Trinity ; the same God, begot- 
ten in Him, consubstantial to the Father, who was from the 
beginning, and by whom all things were made. And, if this 
be the Son of God, what right has that woman to look up to 
Him with a mother's eyes ? What right have these dying lips 
to address her as mother ? Ah ! because, dearly beloved, He 
was as truly the Son of Mary as He was the Son of God. 

And now, as I wish to take my own time, and to enter 
fully into all these things in successive meditations, let me 



THE DIGNITY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 237 

conclude with only one remark. Since I came to the use of 
reason, and learned my catechism, and mastered the idea 
that was taught me of how God in heaven planned and 
designed the redemption of mankind, — the greatest puzzle 
in my life — a thing that I never could understand — has been, 
how any one, believing what I have said, could refuse their 
veneration, their honor, and their love to the Blessed Virgin, 
Mother of Jesus Christ. For it seems to me that nothing is 
more natural to the heart of man than to be grateful 5 and 
that in proportion to the gift which is received from any one, 
in the same proportion do we find our hearts springing with 
gratitude within us, and a strange craving, a strange, 
dissatisfied feeling to find out how we can express that 
gratitude that we feel. And is this a sacred feeling ? Most 
sacred ; natural, but most sacred. We find in the Scriptures 
the loud tone of praise, honor, and veneration, and the 
gratitude which the inspired writers poured forth towards 
those who were great benefactors of mankind, and espe- 
cially to the women of the Old Testament. How loud, for 
instance, are the praises the Scriptures give to the daugh- 
ter of Jephtha, because she sacrificed herself, accord- 
ing to her father's vow, for the people. How loud the 
praises which celebrated the glorious woman, Deborah, 
who, in the day of distress and danger, headed the army of 
Israel, drew the sword, and the Scriptures say that all the 
people praised her for evermore, and they sang, " Blessed 
be God, because a mother has arisen in Israel." How loud 
are the praises of Esther, of whom the Scriptures tell us that 
the Jews celebrated an annual festival in her honor, be- 
cause she interceded with the King Ahasuerus, and saved 
the people from destruction. How loud the praises of 
Judith, who, coming forth from the city upon the rocky sum- 
mit of the mountain, with her womanly hand slew the enemy 
of Israel and of Israel's God, Hoi of ernes ; and, returning in 
triumph, the ancients of the city came forth and cried out, 
" Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; and thou — thou art the 
glory of Jerusalem : thou art the joy of Israel; thou art the 
honor of our people." And yet, what did Deborah, or Es- 
ther, or Judith — what did any of these, or any other man 
or woman on the face of the earth, do for us compared with 
what Mary did ? Judith cut off the head of Holof ernes : 
Mary set her heel on the head of the serpent that was the 



233 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



destruction of our race. Esther pleaded for the people be- 
fore the Assyrian monarch, and saved them from temporal 
ruin : Mary pleaded, and pleads, to the King of kings, to the 
King of Heaven, and saves the people from destruction. 
Jephtha's daughter gave her life : Mary brought down " the 
Life." indeed, from Heaven, and gave it to us. Yet, strange 
to say, those who are constantly talking about " the Bible ; 
the open Bible ; the Bible free to every man 5 79 those who 
call themselves Bible men • those in whose oily mouths this 
Bible is always, — every text of it coming forth as if you 
taught a parrot in its cage to recite it, — understanding it as 
much as the bird would ; these are the very people who tell 
us that we may join with the Jews of old in the praises of 
Esther and of Deborah 5 we may ciy out in tones of admiration 
for Mary, the sister of Moses, or for Eachel 5 but we must 
not say a word to express our gratitude, our love, our vener- 
ation, and our honor for the woman, the woman amongst 
women, the spiritual mother of all our race, because her child 
was our first-born brother 5 the woman that gave us Jesus 
Christ ; the woman that gave to Him the blood that flowed 
from His veins upon Calvary, and saved the world ! For this 
woman no word, save a word of reproach, an echo of the 
hisses of hell, an echo of the sibilation of the infernal ser- 
pent that was crushed by God ! Christ honored her ; yet we 
must not unite with Him in her honor ! Christ obeyed her 5 
yet we must not unite with Him in obeying her! Christ 
loved her 5 yet we must not let one emotion of love for her 
into our hearts. 

Who are the men that say this ? I have heard words 
from their lips which they would not permit any man to say 
of their own mothers 5 and yet they had the infernal hardi- 
hood to say these words of the Mother of Jesus Christ, of the 
Mother of "the Son of God ! 

And, now, my friends, I believe we can in nowise better 
employ this month of May, and its devotions, than in making 
reparation to our Lord and Saviour, and to His holy Mother, 
for the insults that fall upon Him when they are put upon 
her. The deepest insult that you could offer to any man 
would be to insult his mother 5 and the more perfect the 
child is, and the more loving, the more keenly will he feel 
that insult. He, with His dying lips, provided for Mary, 
His Mother, a second son, the purest and the most loving 



THE DIGNITY OF THE MOTHER OF GOD. 239 



amongst men. It shows how He thought of her at His last 
moments; how she was the dearest object that He left upon 
this earth. And that which is dear to the heart of Jesus 
Christ should always be dear to your hearts and minds. 
Next to the love, eternal, infinite, essential, that bound Him 
in His divinity to His eternal Father, — next to that in 
strength, in intensity, in tenderness, was the love that bound 
Him to the Mother who came into closest relations with Him. 
And, O Lord Jesus Christ ! teach us to love what Thou 
lovedst, and so revere and honor that which Thou didst 
condescend to honor. 



MARY, THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF GOD. 



\_A Sermon delivered by Very Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in the Church of 
St. Vincent Ferrer, New York, May 3, 1872.] 

"Thou art all fair, O raj beloved, and there is no spot or slightest 
stain in thee." 

These words, beloved brethren, are found in the Canticles 
of Solomon ; and the Holy Catholic Church applies them 
to the soul and body of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the 
Scriptures, the King addresses his spouse by these words. 
The King represents no other than the Almighty God. And, 
surely, if, among all the daughters of men, we ask ourselves, 
who was the spouse of Almighty God ? we must immediately 
answer, the Virgin Mother who brought forth the eternal 
God made man. Wherever, therefore, the Scriptures and 
the inspired writings of the Old Law speak words of love, 
and denote attributes belonging to a spouse, these are directly 
applicable to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Now, among the many gifts and graces which the Prophet 
beheld in her, — and upon which he congratulates her, — are 
these ; he tells us that he saw her " at the King's right hand, 
in golden garb, surroanded with variety;" that every thing 
of beauty and loveliness was upon her ; but, in addition to 
this, he tells us that a vision of such perfect purity, such per- 
fect immaculateness rose before his eyes, that, filled with the 
Holy Ghost and the joy of God, he exclaimed : " Thou art 
all fair, my beloved! and there is no spot or slightest stain 
in thee." Behold, then, dearly beloved, the first great grace 
that the Virgin of virgins received at the first moment of her 
existence. 

When we reflect upon the relationship which the Incar- 
nation of our Divine Lord established between the Blessed 
Virgin Mary and the Almighty God — namely, that she 
should be the Mother of God, — that He, taking His sacred 
humanity from her, should be united to her, so as to be 
the flesh of her flesh, and the bone of her bone ) — that He 



THE IMMACULATE MOTHEB OF GOD. 241 



was to be altogether hers, as the child belongs to the mother 
at birth, — and in this new relation of His humanity He was 
not to suffer the slightest diminution of the infinite sanctity 
which belonged to Him as God ; — when we reflect upon all 
this, and see the awful proximity in which a creature is 
brought to Almighty God in this mystery of man's redemp- 
tion, — the very first thought that strikes the mind is, that 
God must have forfeited something of His holiness, or else 
the creature that He selected for His mother must have been 
all pure, all holy, and, so, fit to be the Mother of God 
either God must have forfeited some of His holiness, coming 
to one personally a sinner, taking tainted blood, — the nature 
that belonged to us that He took in her, and which was a 
broken, a disfigured, and a deformed nature, tainte'd with 
sin, and steeped, if you will, in sin ; — for what, after all, is 
the record of man's history but a record of sin ? — or, else, 
Mary must have been sinless. 

But, if the Almighty God took that nature from one who 
bore in her own blood the personal taint of the universal sin, 
we must conclude that He thereby compromised His own 
infinite holiness ) — nay, that He did more than this ; tlfet He 
contradicted His own word : for the word of God is, that 
nothing defiled, nothing tainted shall come near to Almighty 
God. The soul that departs from this world with the slight- 
est taint of sin on it must pay to the last farthing, and purge 
itself into perfect purity before it can catch a glimpse of God 
in heaven. And if this immaculateness and purity be neces- 
sary in order even to behold God, think of the purity, think 
of the immaculateness that must have been necessary to 
Mary, in order to fit her not only to behold God, but to take 
Him into her bosom; to give Him the very human life 
that He lived ; to give Him the very nature that He took 
and united to Himself in the unity of His own divine 
person ; — to give him that humanity that He literally made 
Himself ! 

What infinite purity, what perfect innocence and immacu- 
lateness did these involve : unless, indeed, we are willing to 
conclude that the Almighty God came into personal contact 
with a sinner, and so allowed something not undefiled to 
come into contact with Him. But no ; the mystery which 
brought so much suffering, so much humiliation, so much sad- 
ness and sorrow to the eternal Son of God, brought to Him 

11 



242 



FATHER BUREE'S DISCOURSES. 



no compromise with sin ; brought to Him no defilement of 
His own infinite sanctity ; did not in the least lower Him 
from that standard of infinite holiness which is His essence 
and nature as God. And, therefore, it was necessary that, 
coming to redeem a sinful race, the individual of that race 
from whom He took His most sacred humanity should be 
perfectly pure and immaculate. 

More than this, we know that the Almighty God never 
yet called any creature to any dignity or to any office with- 
out bestowing upon that creature graces commensurate with 
the greatness, the magnificence, and the duties which He 
imposed upon him. Hence it is that we find when He was 
about to create the Prophet Jeremiah, — when He was about 
to make him a prophet, to put His divine inspiration into his 
mind ; — when He was about to send this man to announce His 
vengeance to the people ; — the Scriptures expressly tell us 
that He sanctified that man in his mother's womb, before he 
was bom, and that the infant prophet came into this world 
without the slightest taint of sin. . Hear the words of Scrip- 
ture : — " The word of the Lord came to me, saying : Before 
I foftied thee in thy mother's womb, I knew thee ; and 
before thou earnest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, 
and made thee a prophet unto the nations." So, in like 
manner, when the Almighty God created the man who was 
to arrive at the highest dignity of the prophets — namely, not 
only to proclaim the coming of God, but to point out God 
amongst men in the person of our Saviour, — John the Bap- 
tist, created for the high and holy purpose, — created to be 
amongst men what Gabriel, the Archangel, was to Mary, — 
namely, the reyealer of the Divine counsels, — God sanctified 
him in his mother's womb j and John the Baptist was born 
without sin. 

If the Almighty God sanctifies a man before his birth, 
anticipates the sacramental regeneration of circumcision, 
sanctifies him before the sacrament, as in the case of Jeremiah 
and John the Baptist, simply because that man was called 
to the office of proclaiming the word of God, surely there must 
have been some distinctive sanctity, some especial grace in 
reserve for Mary, as much higher than the grace of the 
Prophet or of the prevision of the Baptist, as Mary's office 
transcends theirs. Jeremiah had but to announce the Word 
of God revealed to him : Mary it was who was to bring forth 



THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF GOD. 



243 



the Word of God incarnate in her immaculate womb. John 
the Baptist was to point Him out and say, " Behold the Lamb 
of God : " Mary was to hold Him in her arms and say. to the 
world, "This Lamb of God, who is to save all mankind, is 
my Son." And, therefore, it is that, — as her office exceeded 
that of prophet, preacher, and precursor, as her dignity so far 
transcended any thing that heaven and earth could ever know 
or imagine in a creature, — so the Almighty God reserved her 
alone among all that He created upon this earth, that she 
should be conceived, as well as born, without sin : — that the 
stream of sin which touched us all, and in its touch defiled 
us, should never come near nor soil the immaculate Mary 5 — 
that the sin, which mixed itself up in our blood in Adam, 
and. upon the stream of that blood, found its way into the 
heart, into the veins, of every child of this earth, could never 
flow in the immaculate veins that furnished to Jesus Christ 
the blood in which He washed away the world's sin. There- 
fore, the Almighty God for this took thought and forethought 
from all eternity. " The Lord possessed me," says the 
Scripture, " in the beginning of His ways, before He made 
any thing from the beginning." That is to say, in the divine 
and eternal counsels of Almighty God, Mary arose in all the 
splendor, in all the immaculate whiteness of her sanctity and 
purity, the first, the grandest, and the greatest of all the 
designs of the eternal wisdom of God ; because in her was 
to be accomplished the mystery of mysteries, the mystery that 
was hidden from ages with Christ in God, — namely, the 
Incarnation of the Eternal Word. 

Thus did the Prophet behold her, as she shone forth in 
the eternal counsels of God, when he looked up in that 
inspired moment at Patmos, and saw the heavens opened 
and all the glories of God revealed, there in the midst of 
the choirs of God's angels, there in the full blaze and efful- 
gence of the light descending from the Father of Light; and 
he exclaimed : " I beheld, and lo ! a great sign appeared in 
Heaven; a Woman clothed with the sun, and the moon 
beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." 
Who was this woman ? Mark what follows, and you will 
know for yourselves. u And she brought forth a man-child, 
who was to rule all nations with an iron rod 5 and her son 
was taken up to God and to His throne." Who can she 
be but the woman that brought forth the man-child, J esus 



244 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



Christ, the Son of God ? Thus did the Prophet behold her, 
the sign of promise, of victory, and of glory. And how 
significant are the mysterious words that follow : — " And 
the Serpent cast out of his mouth, after the Woman, water, 
as it were a river, that he might cause her to be carried 
away by the river. And the earth helped the Woman ; and 
the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river 
which the Dragon cast out of his mouth." The earth, 
indeed, swallowed up those fatal waters ) the whole world 
was saturated with them ; but they never touched the 
Woman : and we behold in this the mystery of the Immaculate 
Conception, for I can call it nothing else than a mystery of 
divine grace, which is a triple triumph, namely, the triumph 
of God, the triumph of human nature, and Mary's own 
triumph and glory. 

Consider these things, my friends. First of all, let us 
consider God's triumph in Mary. Recollect, dearly beloved, 
the circumstances that attended the fall and the sin of man. 
God made us in a perfect nature: — perfect in its organization, 
perfect in its beautiful harmony, perfect in its origin, perfect 
in its eternal destiny, perfect in the freedom and the glory 
with which He crowned the unfallen man. " Thou hast 
made him little less than the angels ; thou hast crowned him 
with honor and glory." Then came sin into this world, and 
spoiled the beautiful work of God. All the fairest work of 
God was destroyed by Adam's sin. The integrity of our 
nature was injured. The harmony of creation was disturbed. 
Bad passions and evil inclinations were let loose ; and the 
soul with its spiritual aspirations, its pure love and unshackled 
freedom, became their slave. But although the devil 
triumphed over God, in thus breaking, destroying, defiling, 
and spoiling God's work in man, yet his triumph was not 
perfect. God wished still to vindicate Himself. God would 
not give His enemy a total and entire triumph over Him, in 
the destruction and spoiling of His work. God set Mary 
aside and said : u For her, let there be no sin ; for her, no 
soiling influence; for her, no taint.'' He took her, in His 
eternal designs, into the bosom of His own infinite sanctity 
and omnipotent power ; and, while all our nature was 
destroyed, in her it retained its original purity, integrity, and 
beauty, in the one soul and body of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. 



THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF GOD. 



245 



Thus we see God's triumph. And here it is worthy of 
remark, dearly beloved, that, although in Scripture we often 
read of God's designs being frustrated, of God's work being 
overturned and spoiled by sin or some evil agency ; — yet it 
is never totally spoiled. God never gives a complete triumph 
to His enemy. Thus, for instance, in the beginning, at the 
time of the Deluge, all mankind were steeped in sin ; and 
God, looking down from Heaven, said : u I am sorry that -I 
created this race ; for My spirit is no longer among them." 
Yet, even then, did the Almighty God reserve to Himself 
Noah and his children; and, out of the whole race of 
mankind these were saved in purity and sanctity, that God 
might not be utterly conquered by the devil. Again, when 
the Almighty God prepared to rain down fire upon Sodom, 
He could not find ten holy men in the land. And yet, in 
the universal corruption, Lot and his family were saved. 
•They were holy, where all else was unholy, and they pre- 
served God in their hearts. Again, when the tribe of Benjamin 
was destroyed from among the other tribes of Israel, a few 
were saved, that God's work might not be utterly destroyed. 
And so the Prophet, speaking of the J ewish people, says : " If 
the Children of Israel were as the sands of the sea, yet a rem- 
nant shall be saved." Thus it is that we find, invariably, that 
the Almighty God allows, in His wisdom and in His ven- 
geance, the devil to go to a certain point, and to revel in 
destruction so far ,* but yet, suddenly He stays him : God 
stretches out His hand and says : "Thus far shalt thou go, 
and no farther." 

This ought to be a good lesson to us in our day. True, 
it seems to us, in this our day, that this devil of pride, this 
devil of infidelity, this devil of revolution, this devil of self- 
assertion, is let loose among the nations, to play riot with the 
Church of God, to strike the crown from off the Pontiff's 
head, to pervert the ancient, faithful nation which has upheld 
him for centuries, and make it the bitterest enemy of the 
Church, and to deprive the Head of the Church, for the time, 
of power. To-day, this devil runs riot in the world, shut- 
ting up Catholic churches, expelling Jesuits, tainting the 
fountains of education, loosening the sacred bonds of mar- 
riage and of society, blaspheming Christ in the Eucharist, 
persecuting His priests and bishops and representatives upon 
earth. But we know that, at some moment or other, and 



246 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



when we least expect it, — perhaps right in the mid career of 
its apparent glory, — the terrible, invisible hand will be pnt 
forth, and a voice will be heard : " No more — back ! So 
far in My vengeance, and so far even in My mercy, I 
have allowed you. Back ! Let there be peace." So the 
Almighty God triumphed even in the fall of Adam, which 
brought death into the world, polluted our blood, stirred up 
the passions, destroyed the equilibrium and harmony of 
human nature, and caused the very beasts of the forest to 
assume the savageness that they have to this day. All 
nature was tainted except that of Mary. Her the hand of the 
Omnipotent Lord held high above all attacks and attempts 
of her enemies : and in Mary God has triumphed, in that, in 
her His glory has been preserved, she never having been 
tainted with or spoiled" by sin. 

It is, also, the triumph of our nature, my friends. If Mary 
had not been conceived without sin, we might have been 
redeemed, we might have saved our souls, as we hope to do 
now ) we might have gone up into the glory of Heaven j 
but a perfect human being we never could have seen. 
Heaven would be a congregation of penitents if Mary were 
not there : tears upon their faces ; but no tears upon thine, 
Immaculate Mother ! the blood of Christ upon the hands 
of all j but no blood of thy divine Son upon thy immaculate 
hands, Mary ! The unfallen man would have been 
a thing of the past. Even in Heaven, the representative of 
what God had made in Adam would be wanting if Mary 
were not there. And, therefore, our nature has triumphed in 
her. We may all look up to her in Heaven j we may all con- 
template her j and we may glorify our humanity in Mary 
without the slightest fear of pride or blasphemy against God, 
because the humanity that is in Mary, being conceived with- 
out sin, is worthy of all honor and of all glory. 

I will not compare her in her Immaculate Conception with 
sinners; I will compare her with the Saints, and behold 
how she towers above them. All sanctity, — whether it be 
wrought out by years of penance, by fasting and mortifica- 
tion, by laborious efforts for the conversion of souls, by 
utter consecration and sacrifice to God, by martyrdom, by 
any form of sanctity, — attains to but one thing ; and that 
is perfect sinlessness and perfect purity of soul. Perfect 
sinlessness and perfect purity of soul mean perfect union 



THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF GOD. 247 



by the highest form of divine love with Almighty God. 
God so loves us, dearly beloved, that He wishes to have us 
all together united to Him by that intimate union of the 
strongest and most ardent love. How is it that that 
union is not effected ? Because of some little imperfection, 
some little sinfulness, some little crookedness in our souls, 
which keeps us from that perfect union of love with 
God. Now, the aim of all the Saints is to attain to that 
ardent and perfect union with God, by purging from their 
souls, from their bodies, from their affections, and from their 
senses, every vestige or inclination or even temptation to sin. 
When they have attained to that, God crowns their sinless- 
ness with a perfect union of love ; and they have attained to 
the acme or summit of their desires. It is here — precisely 
where all the Saints have ended — here, precisely where all 
the Saints, tired and fatigued with the labors of their upward 
journey, knelt down in blessed rest, on the summit of Chris- 
tian perfection — that Mary's sanctity begins ; for, in her Im- 
maculate Conception, she was conceived without sin. No 
thought, or shadow of thought "to sin allied/ 7 was ever 
allowed to fall upon the pure sunshine of her soul. No temp- 
tation to sin was ever allowed to quicken the pulsations of 
her sacred heart. Nothing of sin was ever allowed to 
approach her. Entrenched in the perfect sinlessness of her 
Immaculate Conception, the moment she was conceived, she 
surpassed in sanctity, — that is to say, in perfect sinlessness, 
and, consequently, in perfect union of love with God, — all of 
the Saints and Angels in heaven. This is the meaning of 
the words in Scripture, where the Prophet says : " Wisdom 
built unto itself a house 5 and the foundation thereof is laid 
upon the summits of the holy mountain. The Lord loveth 
the threshold of Sion more than the palaces and tabernacles 
of Judah." You know that every word of Scripture has 
a deep and Godlike meaning. What meaning can these 
words have? Apply this to Mary's sanctity; we find the 
first moment of her existence upon the summit of the holy 
mountain : that is to say, her very first step in life is dearer 
to the Lord than the palaces and tabernacles of Judah • that 
is, than all the edifices of sanctity that were ever built up on 
this earth. This was the beginning — the conception — of the 
woman who was destined to be the Mother of God made 
man. 



248 



FA THEE BUBKE'S DISCOURSES. 



But, you may ask me, in that case, if she never sinned, 
even in Adam, surely she stood in no need of a Redeemer ; 
surely she was the only one for whom it was not necessary 
that God should become man. God became man to redeem 
sinners — to save them ) if this woman did not require redemp- 
tion or salvation, why does she say in the " Magnificat : 79 
u My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced 
in God, my Saviour"? Well, my friends, she owes as much 
to the blood of Christ, shed on Calvary, as we do, and more. 
He was more her Saviour than ours. Whence came the 
grace of her immaculate conception ? — whence came the power 
that kept her out of the way when all the rest of mankind 
were swept away into the current of sin ¥ It was her divine 
Son, foreseen in the years of His humanity — foreseen by the 
eye of God's justice in the agony of His crucifixion • it was 
the blood that was shed upon Calvary to save us that saved 
Mary from ever being tainted with sin. Do you not know 
that the Almighty God may save in any way he likes ? Do 
you not know, my friends, that the Almighty God is not 
bound to save this soul or that in this or that particular way ? 
For instance, the Almighty God appointed circumcision as 
the only way by which original sin was to be removed under 
the Old Law. And yet we know that He saved and sancti- 
fied Jeremiah and J ohn the Baptist without circumcision, and 
before ; because, although circumcision was the ordinary 
way, Almighty God did not tie His own hands, nor oblige 
Himself never to apply an extraordinary way. And so, 
wherever there is a human spirit that is saved and made fit 
for Heaven, that saving and fitness are equally purchased by 
the blood of Christ, and by that alone. It saved Mary, as 
it saved us ) only in a different manner. It saved us by 
falling upon our sinful heads in Baptism ) — literally washing 
away the stain that was already there ; it saved Mary by 
anticipating Baptism, by removing her from the necessity of 
the Sacrament, by anticipation. In us this blood of Christ 
is a cleansing grace ; in Mary it was a preventing grace. 
She is saved as much as we are. For instance, suppose a 
wise prophet — a man that had a knowledge of the future — 
were to stand on the sea-shore, and see a number of persons 
about to embark on board a ship, leaving for a distant port 5 
and that he said to one of them, " That ship is going to be 
shipwrecked j do not go on board/' and the person followed 



THE IMMACULATE MOTHER OF GOD. 



249 



his advice and was saved ; the others went on the ship, and 
it is wrecked, as was foretold ; the prophet is there, by some 
mysterious means, and saves them all ) — he is as much the 
saviour of the person who stayed on shore as of those he 
saved on the vessel after it was wrecked. And so it is with 
God. He set Mary aside, and His spirit overshadowed her 
and saved her. Oh how gloriously did God save her ! — how 
magnificently He vindicated Himself in her ! — how kindly 
and mercifully He preserved one specimen of our pure and 
unbroken nature in her ! Well might He hold her forth, as 
it were, in His omnipotent hand, to frighten the devil, even 
in the day of his triumph, when He said, " The woman, O 
spirit of evil, whom thou knowest well, shall crush thy head." 
Mary was the terror of hell from the beginning ; because 
hell was afraid, from the beginning, of the pure, unfallen 
nature of man : and that was saved only in her. 

Let us, therefore, meditate upon these things ; and, giving 
thanks to God for all He did, for the greatest boon of mercy 
to our race — in that God so sanctified a creature that she 
might be worthy to approach Him ; — and endeavor, in our 
own humble way, — by purifying our souls, putting away 
from us our sins, and weeping over the follies and errors 
that we have allowed to come upon our souls, — thus to fit 
ourselves, that, at some immeasurable distance we, too, 
may be able to approach Him, and Mary, the Immaculate 
Mother of God. 



THE POPE'S TIARA— ITS PAST, PRESENT AND 
FUTURE. 



\_A Lecture delivered by Very Rev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in the Academy 
of Music, New York, May 16, 1872, in aid of the " Catholic Union" 
Fund, for His Holiness, Pope Pius IX. ] 

May it Please Your Grace — Ladies Ant) Gentle- 
men : The subject on which I propose to address you is, " The 
Pope's Tiara, or Triple Crown 5 its Past, its Present, and its 
Future." We read of a celebrated orator of Greece, that the 
grandest effort he ever made was in a speech which he pro- 
nounced upon a crown. I wish I had, to-night, th'e genius 
or the eloquence of Demosthenes 5 for my theme, my crown, 
is as far beyond the glory of the crown of which he spoke, as 
my thoughts and my eloquence are inferior to his. 

Among the promises and prophetic words that we read in 
Scripture concerning our Divine Lord and Redeemer, we read 
that it was prophesied of Him that He should be a King 5 
that He should rule the nations ; that He should wear a 
crown 5 and that His name was to be called u The Prince of 
Peace." He came 5 He fulfilled all that was written con 
cerning Him ; and He transmitted His headship and His 
office in the Holy Church, to be visibly exercised, and to be 
embodied before the eyes of men in the Pope of Rome. And, 
therefore, among the other privileges which He conferred 
upon His Vicar, He gave him that his brows should wear a 
crown. Therefore it is that, from the first day of the Church's 
history, her ruler, her Pope, her head rises before us, a 
sceptred man among men, and crowned with a glorious 
crown. Therefore it is that, encircling his honored brows, 
for ages the world has beheld the triple crown, or tiara, of 
which I am to speak to you this evening. Every other mon- 
arch among the nations wears for his crown a single circlet 
of gold. Ornament it as you will, there is but one circle, 
that would represent the meeting and the centring in the 
person of the sovereign of all the temporal interests and 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



251 



authority of the State. Upon the Pope's brows, however, 
rests a triple crown, called the tiara. It is made up of three 
distinct circles of gold. The first of these is symbolical of 
the universal episcopate of the Pope of Rome, — that is to say, 
of his headship of all the faithful in the Church ; for, " there 
shall be but one fold and one shepherd/ 7 was Christ's word. 
The second of these circles that crowns the papal brows 
represents the supremacy of jurisdiction, by which the Pope- 
governs not only all the faithful in the world at large, 
— feeding them as their supreme pastor, — but by which, also, 
he holds the supremacy of jurisdiction and of power over the 
anointed ministers, and the episcopacy itself, in the Church 
of God. The third and last circle of this crown represents 
the temporal influence, the temporal dominion which the 
Pope has exercised and enjoyed for more than a thousand 
years in this world. 

Behold, then, what this tiara means. Upon those great 
festival -days when all the Catholic world was accustomed to 
be represented by its highest, by its best and noblest, by its 
most intellectual representatives in Eome, the Holy Father 
was seen enthroned, surrounded by cardinals, patriarchs, 
archbishops, bishops, the priesthood, and the faithful. There 
he sat upon his high, and ancient, and time-honored-throne $ 
and upon his head did he wear this triple crown, symbolizing 
his triple power. 

Now, my friends, in the Church of God every thing is 
organized 5 every thing is arranged and disposed in a wonder- 
ful harmony which expresses the mind and the wisdom of 
God Himself. And, therefore, it is, that in every detail of 
the Catholic liturgy and worship, we find the very highest 
and the very holiest gifts symbolized and signified to the 
man of faith. What do those three circles of the Pope's 
tiara symbolize ? They signify, first of all, the unity that 
God has set upon His Church. Secondly, they signify the 
power and jurisdiction that God has conferred upon His 
Church. And thirdly, they signify all these benefits of a 
human kind, which the Cburch has conferred upon this 
world and upon society. 

The first circlet of this tiara represents the unity of the 
Church. For it tells the faithful, that although they may 
be diffused all the world over, although they may be counted 
by hundreds of millions, although they may be found in every 



252 



FATHER B URKE'S DISCOURSES. 



clime, and speaking every language ; although they may be 
broken up into various forms of government, thinking in 
varied forms of thought, having varied and distinguished in- 
terests in the things that should never perish, but abide with 
them for eternity ; that moment, out of all these varied ele- 
ments, out of these multiplied millions, out of these different 
nations, arises one thought, one act of obedience, one aspira- 
tion of prayer, one uplifting of the whole man, body and soul, 
in the unity of worship which distinguishes the Catholic 
Church, the spouse of Christ. This was the first mark that 
Christ, the Son of God, set upon the brows of His Church. 
He set upon her the glorious seal of unity in doctrine, — that 
all men throughout the world who belonged to her were to 
be as one individual man, in the one soul, and the one belief 
of their divine faith. He set upon her brows the unity of 
charity 5 — that all men were to be one, in one heart and in 
one bond, which was to bind all Christian men to their fellow- 
men, through the one heart of Christ. And, in order to effect 
this unity, the Son of God put forth, the night before He 
suffered, the tender but omnipotent prayer, in which He be- 
sought His Father, that the unity of the Church should be 
visible to all men, and that it should be so perfect as to 
represent the ineffable unity by which He was one with His 
Father, in that singleness of nature, which is the quintessence 
of the Almighty God. It was to be a visible unity. It was 
to be an unity that would force itself upon the notice of the 
world. It was to be an unity of thought and Belief that 
would convince the world that the one mind, the one word of 
the Lord of all truth, was in the heart, and in the intelligence, 
and upon the lips of His Church. It would be in vain that 
Christ, the Son of God, prayed for that unity, if it was to be 
a hidden thing, not seen and known by men • if it was to be 
a contradictory thing, involving an outrage upon all logic 
and all reason ; as, for instance, the Protestant idea of unity, 
which is, " Let us agree to differ." " Let us agree to differ! " 
Why, what does this mean ? It means something like what 
the Irishman meant, when he met his friend, and said : " Oh, 
my dear fellow, I am so happy and glad to meet you ! And I 
want to give you a proof of it." And he knocked him down ! 
But, you remember, this was the sign of love. And so the 
Protestant logic of this world says; — "Let us agree to differ." 
That is to say ; — let us create unity by making disunion ! 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



253 



Now, as the Divine, Eternal, Incarnate Wisdom determined 
that that crown and countersign of unity should be visible 
upon His Church, it was absolutely necessary for Him to 
constitute one man — one individual man — as the visible sign 
and guarantee of that unity in the Church for ever. It would 
not have answered to have left the twelve Apostles, equal in 
power, equal in jurisdiction. For, all-holy as they were, all- 
inspired as they were, if equal power and jurisdiction had 
been left to all, if no one man among them had been brought 
forth and made the head of all, with all their perfection, 
with all their inspiration, with all their love for Christ, they 
would not, being twelve, have represented the sacred princi- 
ple of unity in the Church. Therefore did Christ, the Son 
of God, from among the Twelve take one : He called that 
man forth, He laid His hands upon Him, and said : " Hear 
him ! hear his words ! " That He did not say of any of the 
others, but took care that all the others should be present to 
witness these words and to acknowledge their chief. He took 
that man in the presence of the Twelve, and He said to him, 
to them : " Hitherto you have been called Simon 5 now I say 
your name is Cephas, which means a rock ; and upon this 
rock I will build my Church." Again, in the plainest of lan- 
guage, He said to that man : " Thou — thou, rock ! con- 
firm thy brethren ! " In the presence of all, He demanded 
of that man the triple, thrice-repeated acknowledgment 
and confession of his love. " Peter," He said to him, " you 
know how dearly John, My virgin friend, loves Me. Do you 
love Me more ? You know how well all these around Me 
love Me. Do you love Me more than all?" And until 
Peter three times asserted that he loved his Master with a 
love surpassing that of all others, Christ delayed His divine 
commission. But, when the triple acknowledgment was 
made, He said to Peter : " Feed thou My lambs ; feed thou 
My sheep ! 79 u There shall be one fold," said the Son of 
God, " and one shepherd." That was the visible unit} 7 of 
the Church; that was to be the countersign of the divine 
origin of the Church of God 5 and that was to be represented 
unto all ages by the one head and Supreme Pastor of all, the 
Pope of Rome. 

Mark the splendid harmony that is here. The adorable 
Son of God is one with the Father by the ineffable union of 
nature from all eternity. The Son of God matfe man, still 



254 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



is man, and only man, in the hypo statical union in which the 
two natures met in one divine person. The Church, that 
sprung from Christ, — the Lord God and man united, — is to 
be one until the end of time. And, therefore, the principle 
of unity passes, as it were, from Christ to Peter, and from 
Peter to each succeeding Pontiff; so that the Church of God 
is recognized by its union with its Head, and by that, the 
One Head, which governs all. Therefore did St. Ambrose 
sav : " Show me Peter ,• for, where Peter is, there is the 
Church of God." 

Now, you see at once the significance of that first circle of 
gold that twines round the papal crown. It speaks of the 
Pope as the supreme pastor of all the faithful. It speaks of 
him as the one voice, and the only one, able to fill the world, 
and before whose utterances the whole Christian and Catholic 
world bows down as one man. It speaks of the Pope as the 
one shepherd of the one fold j and it tells us that, as we are 
bound to hear his voice, and as that voice alone can resound 
through the whole Church, which cannot by possibility pro- 
claim a lie, — when the Pope of Rome speaks to the faithful 
as supreme pastor, pronouncing upon and witnessing the faith 
of the Catholic Church, — it tells us that the self-same spirit 
that preserves that Church from falling into error, preserves 
her pastor, so that he can never propound to her any thing 
erroneous or unholy, or at variance with the sacred morality 
of the Christian law. 

The second circle of gold represents the second great attri- 
bute that Christ, our Lord, emphatically laid upon His Church. 
As clearly as He proved that that Church should be one, so 
clearly did He pray and prophesy that that Church was to 
have power and jurisdiction. " All power," He said to His 
Apostles, "all power in heaven and upon earth is given unto 
Me." Behold the Head of the Church speaking to His Church. 
" Given unto me ! 77 u l am the centre of that power.". " As 
the Father sent me, thus endued with power, so do I send 
you." And then He set upon the brows of His Apostles, and, 
through them, on the Church, the crown of spiritual power. 
But, as all power is derived from God, it follows that, in the 
Church of God, whoever represents, as viceroy and vicar, su- 
preme pastor and ruler of the Church, — whoever represents 
Christ, w T ho is the source of all power, that man has supreme 
jurisdiction ;n the Church of God, not only over the Faithful, 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



255 



but over the pastors of the flock and the Episcopacy. 
James, and John, and Andrew, and Philip, and the others, 
were all Bishops. St. Ignatius of Antioch, and all the suc- 
ceeding great names that adorn the episcopal roll in the 
Church, — ail had power 5 all exercised power ; and all were 
recognized, as the Church recognizes them and their success- 
ors still, as her Archbishops and Bishops ; and all had that 
power by divine institution, and their episcopacy in the 
Church is of divine origin 5 and yet, that power is so subju- 
gated and subordinated, that the Pope is the supreme Bishop 
of Bishops, to whom Christ said : " Feed not only My lambs," 
My faithful ; but, " feed My sheep," the matured ones and 
holy ones in the sanctuary of the Church. 

Finally, the third circle of gold twining around that 
time-honored crown of the tiara, represents the temporal 
power that the Pope has wielded for so many centuries, and 
which has been the cause of so many blessings, and so much 
liberty and civilization to the world. It was not in the direct 
mission of the Church of God to civilize mankind, but only 
to sanctify them. But, inasmuch as no man can be sancti- 
fied without being instructed, and thus having the elements 
of civilization applied to him, therefore, indirectly, but most 
powerfully, did Christ, our Lord, confer upon His Church 
that she should be the great former and creator of society 5 
that she should be the mother of the highest civilization of 
this world ,* that she should be the giver of the choicest and 
the highest of human gifts ; and, therefore, that she should 
have that power, that jurisdiction, that position, in her head, 
among the rulers of the nations, that would give her a strong 
voice and a powerful action in the guidance of human society. 
And as to the second circle of this golden crown — viz., the 
universal pastorate of the Church — and the supremacy, even 
in the sanctuary, — both of these did Peter receive from Christ ; 
and these two have been twined round the Papal brow by 
the very hand of the Son of God Himself. The third circle, 
of temporal power, the Pope received at the hands of the 
world ; at the hands of human society ; at the hands of the 
people. And he received it out of the necessities of the 
people, that he might be their king, their ruler, and their 
father upon this earth. 

Now, such being the tiara, we come to consider it in the 
past, as history tells us ©f it; in its present, as we behold it 



256 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



to-day : and in its future. How old is this tiara ? I answer 
that, although the mere material crown and its form dates only 
from about the year 1340 or '42, and the Pontificate of Bene- 
dict the Twelfth, the tiara itself — the reality of it — the thing 
that it signifies — is as ancient as the Church of God, which 
was founded by Christ, our Lord. In the past, from the day 
that the Son of God ascended into Heaven, all history attests 
to us that Peter and Peter's successors were acknowledged 
to be the supreme pastors of the Church of God. Never, 
when Peter spoke, never did the Church refuse to accept his 
word, and to bow down before his final decision. In the very 
first Council of Jerusalem, grave questions that were brought 
before the Assembly were argued upon by various of the 
Apostles, until Peter rose ; and the moment that Peter spoke 
and said : " Let this be done so ; let such things be omitted ; 
such things be enforced ; n — that moment every man in the 
Assembly held his peace, and took the decision of Peter as 
the very echo of the Invisible Head of the Church, who spoke 
in him, by and through him. In all the succeeding ages, the 
nations bowed down as they received the words of the Gospel. 
The nations bowed down and accepted that message on the 
authority and on the testimony of the Pope of Eome. Where, 
among the nations, who have embraced the Cross, — where 
among the nations who have upheld the Cross, — where is 
there one that did not receive its mission and its Gospel mes- 
sage on the message and on the testimony of the Pope of 
Rome ? 

From the very first ages, while they yet lay hid in the 
Catacombs, we read of saintly missionaries going forth from 
under the Pope's hands, to spread the message of Divine 
Truth throughout the lands. Scarcely had the Church 
emerged from the Catacombs, and burst into the glory and 
splendor of her renewed existence, than we find one of the 
early Popes of Rome laying his hand upon the head of a holy 
youth that knelt before him, consecrating that youth into the 
priesthood, into the episcopacy, — and sending him straight 
from Rome to a mission, the grandest and most fruitful — 
the most glorious of any in the Church. That Pope was 
Celestine, of Rome ; and the man whom he sent was Patrick, 
who, by the Pope's order, wended his way to Ireland. From 
the Pope of Rome did he (Patrick) receive his mission and 
his message. From the Pope of Rome did he receive his 



THE POPE'S TIABA. 



257 



authority and his jurisdiction. The diploma that he brought 
to Ireland was attached to the Gospel itself. It was the 
testimony of the Church of Christ, countersigned by Celestine, 
who derived his authority from Peter, who derived his from 
Christ. And when, in his old age, he had evangelized the 
whole island ; when he had brought Ireland into the full light 
of the Christian faith, and into the full blaze of her Christian 
sanctity, the aged Apostle, now drooping into years, called 
the bishops and priests of Ireland around him ; and, among 
his last words to ' them, were these : " If ever a difficulty 
arises among you ; — if ever a doubt of any passage of the 
Scripture, or of any doctrine of the Church's law — or of any 
thing touching the Church of God or the salvation of the 
souls of your people, — if ever any doubt arises among you, 
go to Rome — to the mother of the nations — and Peter will 
instruct you thereon." Well and faithfully did the mind and 
the heart of Ireland take in the words of its saintly Apostle. 
Never — through good report or evil report — never has Ireland 
swerved for one instant — never has she turned to look with 
a favoring or a reverential eye upon this authority, or 
upon that ; but straight to Peter. Never has she, for an 
instant, lost her instinct, so as to mistake for Peter any pre- 
tender, or any other Pope. Never, for an instant, has she 
allowed her heart or her hand to be snared from Peter. It 
is a long story. It is a story of fourteen hundred years. But 
Ireland has preserved her faith through her devotion to Peter 
and to the Pope of Home, Peter's successor ; and she has seen 
every nation, during these fourteen hundred years — every 
nation that ever separated from Peter — she has seen them, 
one and all, languish and die, until the sap of divine know- 
ledge, — until the sap of divine grace — was dried up in them j 
and they utterly perished, because they were separated from 
the Rock of Ages, the Pope of Rome. 

Just as the people, in all ages and in all times, 
bowed down before their supreme pastor, so also has 
the Episcopate in the Church of God, at all times, 
recognized the supremacy of the Pope of Rome, and 
at all times bowed before the second crown that en- 
circles his glorious tiara. Never did the Episcopacy of the 
Catholic Church meet in council except upon the invocation 
of the Pope of Rome. Never did they promulgate a decree 
until they first sent it to the Pope of Rome, to ask him if it 



258 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



was according to the truth, and to get the seal and the coun- 
tersign of his name upon it, that it might have the authority 
of the Church of God before their people. From time to 
time, in the history of the Episcopate, there have been 
rebellious men that rose up against the authority, and dis- 
puted the power of the Church of Rome. But, just as the 
nations that separated from Peter separated themselves 
thereby from the unity of the truth, and of sanctity and of 
Christian doctrine, and of Christian morality, so, in like 
manner, the Bishop who, at any time, in any place, or in 
any age, disputed Peter's powder, Peter's authority, and 
separated from him, was cut off from Peter and from the 
Church 5 the mitre fell, dishonored, from his head ; and he 
became a useless member, lopped off from the Church of 
God, without power, without jurisdiction, without the venera- 
tion, or the respect, or the love of his people. Thus has it ever 
been in times gone by. The Pope of Rome commands the 
Church through the Episcopate. The Pope of Rome speaks 
and testifies to the Church's doctrine through the Episcopate. 
Whenever any grave, important question,, touching doctrine, 
has to be decided, the Pope of Rome has always called the 
Episcopate about him ; — not that he could not decide, but 
that he might surround his decision with all that careful and 
prudent examination, with all that weight of universal author- 
ity over the world which would bring that decision, when he 
pronounced it, more clearly and more directly home to every 
Catholic mind. And faithful has that Episcopate been, — 
since the day that eleven Bishops met Peter, the Pope, 
in Jerusalem, in the first Council,— down to the day when, 
three years ago, eight hundred Catholic Archbishops and 
Bishops met Peter's successor in the halls of the Vatican, and 
bowed down before the w T ord of truth upon his lips. 

Such in the past, as history attests, w T ere the two circles 
of the supreme pastorate and supreme jurisdiction in the 
Church. 

The Roman empire, as you all know, was utterly de- 
stroyed by the incursions of the barbarians, in the fifth 
century. A king, at the head of his ferocious army, marched 
on Rome. The Pope was applied to by the terrified citizens ; 
and Leo the Great went forth to meet Attila, " the Scourge 
of God." He found him in the midst of his rude barbarian 
warriors, on the banks of the Mincio. He found him exulting 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



259 



in the strength and power of his irresistible army. He 
found him surging and sweeping on towards Rome, with the 
apparent force of inevitable destiny, and with outspread 
wings of destruction. He found him, in the pride and in 
the supreme passion of his lustful and barbaric heart, sworn 
to destroy the city that was the " Mother of Nations." And, 
as he was in the very sweep of his conquest and pride, — 
unfriended and almost alone, — having nothing bat the 
majesty of his position and of his glorious virtue around him, 
— the Pope said : — " Hold ! Rome is sacred, and your feet 
shall never tread upon its ancient pavement ! Hold ! Let 
Rome be spared ! " And, while he was speaking, Attila 
looked upon the face of the man ; and presently he saw over 
the head of St. Leo, the Pope, two angry figures, the Apo- 
stles St. Peter and St. Paul, with fire and the anger of God 
beaming from their eyes, and with drawn swords menacing 
him. And, even as the Angel stood in the Prophet's path of 
old, and barred his progress, so did Peter and Paul appear in 
mid-air and bar the barbarian. " Let us return, 7? said he, 
"and let us not approach this terrible and God-defended 
city of Rome ! " Attila fled to his 'northern forests ; and Leo 
returned, having saved the existence and the blood of ancient 
and imperial Rome. 

But army followed army ; until, at length, Alaric con- 
quered and sacked the city, burned and destroyed it, broke 
up all its splendor and all its glory, overran and destroyed 
all the surrounding provinces ; and so the destruction that 
he began was completed a few years later by the King 
Odoacer, who wiped away the last vestige of the ancient 
Roman empire. Then, my friends, all Italy was a prey to 
and was torn with factions ; covered with the blood of the 
people. There was no one to save them. In vain did they 
appeal to the distant Eastern Emperor, at Constantinople. 
He laughed at their misery, and abandoned them in the 
hoar of their deepest affliction and sorrow; while wave after 
wave of barbaric invasion swept over the fair land, until life 
became a burden too intolerable to bear, and the people 
cried out, from their breaking hearts, for the Pope of Rome 
to take them under his protection, to let them declare him 
King, and so obtain his safeguard and his protection for their 
lives and their property. For many long years the Pope 
resisted the proferred crown. It grew upon his brows 



260 



FAT BEE BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



insensibly. It came to him in spite of himself. We know 
that, year after year, each successive Pope was employed 
sending letters, sending messengers to supplicate, to implore 
the Christian Emperor to send an army for the protection of 
Italy ; and when he did send his army, they were worse, in 
their heretical lawlessness, more tyrannical, more bloodthirsty 
over the unfortunate people of Italy, than even the savage 
hordes that came down from the north of Europe. And so it 
came to pass that, in the dire distress of the people, the Pope 
was obliged to accept the temporal power of Rome, and of some 
of the adjoining provinces. History tells us that he might, 
in that day, have obtained, if he wished it, the sovereignty 
over all Italy. They would have been only too happy to 
accept him as their King. But no lust of power, no ambition 
of empire guided him 5 and the great St. Gregory tells us, 
that he was oppressed with the cares of the temporal domin- 
ion, and that it was forced upon him against his will. 

However, now the crown is upon his head. Now he is 
acknowledged a monarch — a reigning king among monarchs. 
And now let us see what was the purpose of God in thus 
establishing that temporal power in so early a portion of the 
history of the world's civilization. At that time there was no 
law in Europe. The nations had not yet settled down or 
formed. Every man did as he would. The kings were only 
half-civilized, barbarous men, recently converted to Christi- 
anity, wielding enormous power, and only too anxious to make 
that power the instrument for gratifying every most terrible 
passion of lust, of pride, of ambition, and of revenge. Chief- 
tains, taking to themselves the titles of Baron, Duke, Mar- 
grave, and so on, gathered around them troops, bands of mer- 
cenaries, and preyed on the poor people, until they covered 
the whole Continent with confusion and with blood. There 
was no power to restrain them. There was no power to make 
them spare then people. There was no voice to assert the 
cause of the poor and the oppressed, save one 5 and that was 
the voice of the monarch who was crowned in Rome, 
the ancient and powerful head of the Catholic Church. 
Whence came his influence or his power over them ? Ah, it 
came from this : that, with all their crimes, they still had re- 
ceived from God the gift of faith ; and they knew — the very 
w r orst among them knew — as history tells us, that, when the 
Pope spoke it was the echo of the voice of God. They 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



261 



acknowledged it as a supreme power over their consciences, 
over their actions, — as a power that could be wielded not only 
for their salvation, but even for their destruction, by the terrible 
sentence of excommunication, by which the Pope could cut 
them ofF from the Church. The faith that was in the hearts 
of these rude kings was also disseminated among their peo- 
ple ; and so strong was it, that the moment the Pope 
denounced or excommunicated any monarch, that moment, 
no matter how great he was, as a warrior, as a statesman, as 
a writer, — that moment the people shrank from him as they 
would from the pest-stricken leper, and his voice was no 
longer heard as an authority, either on the battle-field or in 
the council chamber. Knowing this, the kings were afraid 
of the Pope. Knowing this, the people looked up to the 
Pope : and if any king overtaxed his people and ground 
them to the earth, or if any king violated the la w of eternal 
justice by shedding the blood of any man without just cause, 
or if any king declared an unjust and unnecessary war, or if 
any king repudiated his lawful wife, and, in the strength 
and power of his passion, sought to scandalize his subjects, 
and to openly insult and outrage the law of God, — the 
people, the soldiery, society, the abandoned and injured 
woman, all alike, looked up to and appealed to the Pope of 
Rome as the only power that could sway the world, and 
strike terror into the heart of the greatest, the most powerful, 
and the most lawless king upon the earth. 

History — from every source from which we can draw it — 
tells us what manner of men were the kings and dukes and 
rulers the Pope had to deal with. What manner of men 
were they ? In the eleventh century, the Emperor Otho 
invited all his nobility to a grand banquet ; and while they 
were in the midst of their festivity, in came one of the king's 
officers with a long list of the names of men who were there 
present ; and every man whose name was called out had to 
rise from the banquet, and walk into a room adjoining, and 
there submit to an unjust, a cruel, and an instantaneous 
death. These were the kind of men the Pope had to deal 
with. Another man that we read of was Lothair. His 
lustful eye fell upon a beautiful woman ; and he instantly 
puts away and repudiates his virtuous and honored wife, and 
he takes to him this concubine, in the face of the world, pro- 
claiming, or suggesting that he could proclaim, that, because 



262 FA TSEE B TJBKE'S DISCO UBSES. 



he was an emperor, or a king, lie was at liberty to violate 
the law of God, outrage the proprieties of society, scandalize 
his subjects, and take liberties with their honor and with 
their integrity, which would not be permitted to any other 
man. How did the Pope, in these instances, deal with such 
men ? How did he use the temporal power, so great and so 
tremendous, with which God and society had invested him 1 
He made the murderers do public penance, and make resti- 
tution to the families of those whose blood they had shed. 
He called to him that Emperor Lothair 5 he brought him 
before him ; he made him, in a public church, and before 
all the people, repudiate that woman whom he had taken to 
his adulterous embrace 5 take back his lawful empress and 
queen, pledge to her again, by solemn oath, before all the 
people, that he never would love another, and that he would 
be faithful to her as a husband and a man, until the hour of his 
death. Lothair broke his oath, — his oath taken at that 
solemn moment, when the Pope, with the ciborium in his hand, 
held up the body of the Lord, and said : " Until you swear 
fidelity to your lawful wife, I will not place the Holy Commu- 
nion upon your lips." He took that oath ; he broke it ; and 
that day month — one month after he had received that Com- 
munion — he was a dead man • and the whole world — the whole 
Christian world, — recognized in that death the vengeance of 
God falling upon a perjured and an excommunicated sinner. 

How did the Pope vindicate by his temporal power and 
authority the influence that it gave him among the kings 
and the nations ? How did he operate upon society 1 When 
King Philip of France wished to repudiate his lawful wife 
and take another in her stead, the Pope excommunicated 
him, and obliged him, in the face of the world, to take back, 
and to honor with his love and with his fidelity the woman 
whom he had sworn before the altar to worship and to 
protect as long as she lived. 

How did the Pope exercise his temporal power when 
Spain and Portugal, both in the zenith of their glory, were 
about to draw the sword, and to deluge those fair lands with 
the blood of the people ? The Pope stepped in and said, 
u No war ! — there is no necessity for war ; — there is no justi- 
fication for war 5 and if you shed the blood of your people/ 7 
he said to both kings, " I will cut you both off ; and fling 
you, excommunicated, out of the Church." 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



263 



Thus did lie preserve the rights — the sacred rights of 
marriage ; thus did he preserve the honor, the integrity, the 
position of the Christian woman, — the Christian mother, who 
is the source, the fountain-head of all this world's 
society, and the one centre of all our hopes. Thus did 
he save the people, and curb the angry passions of their 
sovereigns. Thus did he tell the king : " So long as you 
rule justly, so long as you respect the rights of the 
humblest of your subjects, I will uphold you ; I will set 
a crown upon your head, and I will fling around you all 
the authority, and all the jurisdiction and sacredness of your 
monarchy. I will preach to your people obedience, loyalty, 
bravery, and love; but, if you trample upon that people's 
rights, if you abuse your power to scandalize them, to injure 
them in their integrity, in their conscience, — I will be the 
first to take the crown from your head, and to declare to the 
world that you are unworthy to wear it." Modern historians 
say : " Oh, we admit all this : but what right had the Pope 
to do it? What right had he to do it?" What right? 
The best of right. Who, on this earth, had a right to do it, 
if not the man who represented Christ, the Originator and 
Saviour of the world ? What right had he to do it ? He 
had the right that even society itself and the people gave 
him ; for they cried out to him : " Save us from our kings ; 
save us from injustice ; save us from dishonor, and we will 
be loyal and true as long as our leaders and our monarch s 
are worthy of our loyalty and our truth." 

Such, in the past history of the world, was the third circle, 
that twines round the Papal Crown. 

Now, passing from the past to the tiara of to-day, what do 
we find ? We find a man in Rome, the most extraordinary, 
in some things, of all those that ever succeeded to the supre- 
macy of the Church, and in the office of St. Peter ; — most 
extraordinary, particularly in his misfortunes ; — most extraor- 
dinary in the length of his reign ; for he is the only Pope 
that has outlived "the years of Peter;" — most extraordinary 
in the ingratitude of the world towards him, and the patience 
with which he has borne it ; — most extraordinary in the 
heroic firmness of his character, and in the singleness of his 
devotion to his God and to the spouse of God, the Church ; — 
Pius IX, the glorious Pontiff, the man whom the bitterest 
enemies of the Church, the most foul-mouthed infidels of the 



264 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



day, are obliged to acknowledge as a faithful and true servant 
of the Lord, his God, a faithful ruler of the Church, and a 
man from whose aged countenance there beams forth upon 
all who see him, the sweetness, the purity of Christ. I have 
seen him in the halls of the Vatican ; I have seen the most 
prejudiced Protestant ladies and gentlemen walk into that 
audience chamber; I have seen them come forth, their eyes 
streaming with teats ; I have seen them come forth entranced 
with admiration at the vision of sanctity and venerableness 
that they have beheld in the head of the Catholic Church. 
He is extraordinary in that he has outlived "the years of 
Peter." Well do I remember, as he stood upon the altar, five 
and twenty years ago, fair and beautiful in his youthful man- 
hood. Well do I remember the heroic voice that pealed like a 
clarion over the mighty square of St. Peter's, and seemed as 
if it was an Angel of God that was come down from Heaven, 
and, in a voice of melodious thunder, was flinging a pente- 
cost Of grace and blessing over the people. Five and twenty 
vears have passed away, and more. Never during the long 
roll of Pontiffs — never did man sit upon St. Peter's chair so 
long ; so that it even passed into a proverb, that no Pope 
was ever to see the years of Peter. That proverb is falsified 
in Pius. He has passed the mystic Rubicon of the Papal 
age. He has passed the bounds which closed around all 
his predecessors. He has passed the years of Peter upon the 
Papal throne, Oh ! may he live, if it be God's will, to guide 
the Church, until he has doubled the years of Peter. He 
is singular in what the world calls his misfortunes, but 
what, to me, or to any man of faith, must absolutely appear 
as a startling resemblance to the last week that the Lord, 
our Saviour, spent before His passion in Jerusalem. 

I remember Pius IX, surrounded by the acclamations 
and the admiration of the whole world. No word of praise 
was too great to be bestowed upon him. He was the theme 
of every popular writer. He was the idol of the people. 
The moment they beheld him, the cry came forth : — " Viva, 
viva, il salvaiore de la patria ! " Long live the saviour of 
his people and of his country ! To-day he must not show 
his face in the very streets of Rome ; and in the very halls 
of the deserted Vatican he hears the echoes of the shouts of 
those that cry : " Blessed be the hand that shall be 
imbrued in thy blood, Pius!" Now, I ask any man on 



THE POPE'S TIAPA. 



265 



the face of the earth, what has this man done ? What can 
the greatest enemy of the Pope lay his hand upon, and say 
he has done so and so, and he has deserved this change of 
popular friendship and of popular opinion? The greatest 
enemy that the Pope has on this earth is not able to bring a 
single charge against him, during these twenty-five years, to 
account for that change of opinion. 'What has changed 
blessings into curses ? What has changed homage and vener- 
ation into contempt and obloquy ? There is no accounting for 
it. It is like the change that came over the people of Jeru- 
salem^ who, on Palm Sunday, cried "Hosanna to the Son 
of David," and on" Good-Friday morning cried, " Give Him 
to us ! We will tear Him to pieces and crucify Him ! n 
There is no accounting for it. Has he oppressed the Roman 
people? No. I lived many years in Rome, under his 
Pontificate. There was no taxation worth speaking of; 
there was no want, no misery. There was plenty of educa- 
tion for the children, plenty of employment, plenty of 
diversion. There was no forcible conscription of the youth, 
to send them into some vile cesspool of corruption, in the 
shape of a barrack, or to hunt them out to the battle-field, to 
be mown down and flung into bloodstained graves. No ; 
every man possessed his house and his soul in peace. There 
was prosperity in the land. And over all this there was the 
hand ever waving a blessing, and a voice invoking benedic- 
tion and grace for his people. Whence came the change ? 
No man can tell. Therefore, I say, this man is extraordinary 
in his misfortunes, inasmuch as they bring out, in the most 
striking and terrible manner, his resemblance to his crucified 
Lord and Saviour, the Head of the Church. He is singular 
in the magnificence of his character. The student of 
history may read the lives of. all the Popes that come 
down from Peter to Pius, and I make this assertion, that 
there is not a single feature of grandeur or magnificence in 
the character of any one of these Popes that does not shine 
out, concentrated, in the character of Pius IX. We admire the 
missionary zeal of St. Gregory the Great, or of St. Oelestine. 
Pius the Ninth has sent from under his own hand, and from 
under his own blessing, men who have honored his Pontifi- 
cate, as well as the Church, their mother, by shedding their 
blood in martyrdom, for the faith. From under his hand 
have gone forth those holy ones who have languished in the 

12 



266 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



dungeons of China and of Japan. From under bis hand 
have gone forth those heroic Jesuit sons of St. Ignatius, that 
have lifted the standard of the Cross, and uplifted the name — 
the name which forms their crown and their glory, even in 
the eyes of men, — unto the farthest nations of the earth. If 
we admire the love of Rome that shines forth in the character 
of St. Leo the Great, who was the Pope among them all that 
ever loved Home and the Romans so tenderly as the heart of 
Pius IX loved them ? When he came to the throne there 
were Romans in exile, and there were Romans in prison. 
The very first act of the Pontiff was to fling open the prison 
doors, and to say to these children of misfortune : " Come 
forth, Italians 5 breathe the pure air and feast your eyes upon 
the loveliness of your native land." There were Romans 
who were in exile : he sent them the message of manumission, 
and of pardon, and of love, in whatever land they were, and 
said : " Come back to me ; — come back and sit down in peace 
and in contentment under my empire ) for, Rome and chil- 
dren of Rome, I love you.' 7 This was the language and these 
were the emphatic accents of the glorious Pius IX. Where 
"was the Pope who ever embellished Rome as he did ? I lived 
in Rome during the first year of his Pontificate : I lived there 
in the last. I might almost say that he found it a city of 
brick, and that he handed it over to Victor Emmanuel, the 
robber, a city of polished and shining marble. Orphan- 
ages, hospitals, public schools, model lodging-houses, public 
baths and lavatories, splendid fountains, — every thing that the 
Roman citizen could require, either for his wants or for his 
luxury, or, if you will, his pleasure, — the magnificent hand 
of Pius IX provided. For, for the last five-and-twenty years, 
that hand has never ceased in beautifvin^ and embellishinsr 
his loved and imperial Rome. 

We admire the glorious firmness, the magnificent, rock- 
like endurance of St. Gregory VII, whom history knows 
by the name of Hildebrand ; how he stood in the path of the 
impious German Emperors. Like a rock against which the 
tide dashes, but dashes in vain, — so did he stand to stem the 
torrent of their tyranny and of their corruption. We admire 
Gregory VII, when, saying Mass before the Emperor, he 
took the blessed Eucharist into his hands, and iurned round 
with the Holy Communion and said : " Oh ! majesty, I am 
about to give you the Holy Body of Jesus Christ. I swear 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



267 



before my God," said the Pope, "in whose presence I now 
stand, that I have never acted save for the Church which He 
loves, and for the happiness of His people. Now, King, 
swear thou the same 5 and I will put God upon thy lips ! " 
The Emperor hung his head and said: "I cannot swear it, 
for it would not be true;" and the Holy Communion was 
denied him. 

We admire that magnificent memory in the Church of God 
which upheld the rights of Peter and of the Church against 
king and kaiser ; but, I ask you, does not the image of the 
sainted Gregory VII rise before our eyes from out the re- 
cesses of history, and come forth into the full blaze of the 
present generation, in the magnificent constancy and firmness 
of Pius IX, the Pope of Rome ? It was a question of only 
giving up a little child that was baptized into the Christian 
Church, and engrafted, by Baptism, upon Christ, our Lord — a 
little child that was engrafted unto the Son of God and His 
Church — had received the rites, and claimed, injustice, to come 
to know and love that God on whom he had been engrafted 
by Baptism. All the powers of the world, — all the dukes 
and kings and governments in Europe, — came around the 
Pope and said : " You must give up that child ) he must be 
taught to blaspheme and to hate that Lord upon whom he 
has been engrafted by Baptism. He must not belong to 
Christ or the Church, even though he is baptized into it." 
And they asked the Pope, by the surrender of that child, to 
proclaim the surrender of that portion of the Church's faith 
that tells us, on the authority of the inspired Apostle, that 
by Baptism, like a wild olive branch let into a good tree, we 
are let into J esus Christ. They sent their fleets to Civita 
Vecchia ; they pointed their cannon against the Vatican ; 
and told the Pope that his existence and his life depended 
upon his giving up that child. And he declared, in the 
face of the world, and pronounced that word which will shine 
in characters of glory on his brow in Heaven, — he pro- 
nounced the immortal non possumus, — " I will not do it, be- 
cause I cannot do it." If he wants an epitaph, the most 
glorious language that need be written on his tomb would 
be : " Here lies the man whom the whole world tried to co- 
erce to commit a sin ; and who answered the whole world 
1 non possumus/ — I cannot do it." This is the man that to- 
day wears, and so gloriously wears, the time-honored tiara 



268 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



that has come down to him through eighteen hundred years 
of suffering and of glory, of joy and of sorrow. 

The third circlet, — that of the temporal power, — for a 
time is gone. There is a robber, who calls himself a king, 
seated now in the Quirinal, in Eome. He had not the de- 
cency to tell the Pope that was he was coming to plunder 
him. He had not the decency, when he did come to Eome, 
to build a house for himself ; but he must take one of the 
old man's houses. It was a question of bringing his women 
into these, the Pope's own chambers, which were always like 
sanctuaries, where ladies generally are not permitted to come 
in. There was a kind of tradition of holiness about them 
and exclusiveness, in this way; and he brings his Queen 
and his " ladies all " to these chambers, where, if- they had 
a particle of womanly decency, and delicacy, and propriety, 
they would not enter. I do not believe there is a lady here 
listening to me, who would walk into the Quirinal, to-mor- 
row, even if she was in Eome. The third circlet, for a time, 
is plucked from the Pope's brow ) and, instead of a crown 
of gold, the aged man has bent down and has received from 
the hands of ungrateful Italy the present of a crown of thorns. 
But, as if to compensate him for the temporary absence of 
the crown of temporal rule ) as if to make up to him for that 
which has been plucked, for a time only, from the tiara, the 
Almighty God has brought out, in our age, upon the pontifi- 
cate of Pius IX, the other two circlets, that of supreme Pas- 
torate and supreme Bishop of the Church, with an additional 
lustre and glory that they never had before. Never in the 
history of the Catholic Church, have the faithful, all the 
world over, listened with so much reverence, with so much 
love, with so much faith and joy, as the Catholics of the 
world, to-day, listen to the voice of Pius IX in Eome. 
Xever have the Bishops of the Catholic Church shown such 
unanimity, such unity of thought, such profound and mag- 
nificent obedience. Never has the Episcopate of the Cath- 
olic Church so loudly, emphatically, and unitedly upheld the 
privileges and the glories of its head, as the Episcopacy of 
this day has upheld the glory of the Papacy of Pius IX. 
And it is no small subject of praise and of thankfulness to us, 
that, when eight hundred men among them, loaded with the 
responsibility of the Church, — eight hundred men represent- 
ing all that the Church had, of perfection, of the priesthood, 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



269 



and of jurisdiction and power, — when these eight hundred 
men were gathered around the throne of the august Pontiff, 
they presented to the world in its hostility, in its infidelity, in 
its hatred, so firm a front, that they were all of one mind, of 
one soul. One voice only was heard from the lips of these 
eight hundred ; and that voice said : " Tu es Petrus ! 
Pius, Peter speaks in thee ; and Christ, the Lord, speaks in 
Peter." One of the most honored of these eight hundred, — 
one of the foremost in dignity and in worth, — now sits here in 
the midst of you, the Bishop and pastor of your souls. He can 
bear living witness to the fact which I have stated. • Out of 
the resources of his learned mind, — out of his Roman experi- 
ence, as an Archbishop, — will he tell you, — out of his historic 
lore will he tell you, — that never was the Church of God 
more united, both in the priesthood and episcopacy, and in 
the people, — more united in ranks cemented by faith and 
strengthened by love, than the Christian and Catholic world 
to-day is, around the glorious throne of the uncrowned Pon- 
tiff, Pius IX. 

And what shall be the future of the PopVs tiara? We know 
that the crown of universal pastorship and the crown of 
supremacy are his ; that no man can take from him that which 
has grown unto him under the hand of Jesus Christ. We 
know that he may be in exile to-morrow, that he may be 
without a home, persecuted and. hunted from one city to 
another. But we know that God and the Church of God 
have set then seal upon him, and their sign that no other 
man upon this earth can wear, namely, that he is the head of 
the Church, and the infallible guide of the infallible flock of 
Christ. Will his temporal power be restored 1 Will the third 
circle ever again shine upon that tiara? It is a singular 
fact that the only man who can speak of the future with 
certainty is the Catholic. Every other man, when he comes 
to discuss any subject of the future, must say : Well, in all 
probability, perhaps, it may come to pass ; it may be so and 
so." But the Catholic man, when he comes to speak of the 
future, says, " Such and such things are to come : w he 
knows it as sure as fate. There is not a man among us that 
does not know that this usurpation of Rome is only a question 
of a few days ; — that the knavish king may remain this year, 
next year j perhaps a few years more ; but, as sure as Rome 
is seated upon her seven hills, so surely will the third circle 



270 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



of the tiara be there ; so surely must there be a Pope- King 
there. And why ? For the simplest of all reasons :-that her 
empire, or her temporal power is very convenient, and very 
useful, and very necessary for the Church of God ; and that 
whatever is convenient, or useful or necessary for her, God in 
Heaven will provide for her. That temporal power will 
return as it returned in the times of old, because it is good 
for the Church, and because the world cannot get on without 
it. The hand that has held the reins of society for a thou- 
sand years and more, — the hand that has held the curb tight 
upon the passions, and the ambition, and the injustice of 
kings ; — the hand that has held with a firm grasp the reins 
that govern the people, is as necessary in the time to come, 
as it was in the times past : and, therefore, God will keep 
that hand, that holds the reins of the world, a royal hand. 
Hence it is that we, Catholics, have not the slightest 
apprehension, the slightest fear, about this. We know that, 
even as our Divine Lord and Master suffered in Jerusalem, 
and was buried and remained for three days in the grave, 
and undeniably rose again, all the more glorious because of 
His previous sufferings, — so, in like manner, do we know 
that, out of the grave of his present tribulation, — out of the 
trials of to-day, — Pius IX, or Pius the Xintlr's successor, — 
for the Pope lives for ever, — will rise more glorious in his 
empire over the world, and in his influence and power, — all 
the more glorious for having passed through the tribulations 
of the present time. But, my friends, just as the most precious 
hours in the life of our Lord were the hours of His suffering, 
— just as that was the particular time when every loving 
heart came to Him, — the time when the highest privileges 
were conferred upon mankind, namely, to wipe the sweat and 
blood off his brow : to take the Cross off His shoulders ; to 
lift Him from His falling and His faintness upon the earth ) 
so, also, the present is the horn: of our highest privilege as 
Catholics, when we can put out our hand to cheer, to console, 
to help our Holy Father the Pope, This hall is crowded ; 
and, from my priestly, Catholic, and Irish heart, I am proud 
of it. It is easy to acclaim a man when he is " on the top 
of the wheel," 7 as they say, and every thing is going well 
with him. It is easy to feel proud of the Pope when the 
Pope shines out, acknowledged by all the kings of the 
earth. Ah, but it is the triumph of Catholic and of Irish 



THE POPE'S TIARA. 



271 



faith to stand up for him, to uphold him before the world, 
and, if necessary to fight for him when the whole world is 
against him ! Therefore I hope, that when the proceeds of 
this lecture are sent to the man, who, although poor, and in 
prison to-day, has kept his honor, has kept his nobility of 
character ; and when millions were put before him by the 
robber-king, said he would not dirty his hands by touching 
them • — but when the honest and the clean money of to-night 
shall be sent to him, I hope that some one of those officials 
here will also inform him that that money was sent to him 
with cheers and with applause, and from loving and generous 
Irish Catholic hearts 5 that it was given, as Ireland always 
has given when she gave, — given with a free hand and 
a loving and a generous heart. As a great author and writer 
of our day said : "I would rather get a cold potato from an 
Irishman, than a guinea in gold and a dinner of beef from 
an Englishman." 

And, now, my friends, I have only to state to you that, 
from my heart, I thank you for your presence here this even- 
ing. I know that the sacredness of the cause brought you 
here as Catholics. I flatter myself a little, that, perhaps, 
some of you came, because, when I was last here before you, 
I told you, in all sincerity, that my heart and soul were in 
this lecture, and that I would take it as a personal favor if 
the hall were crowded this evening. The hall is crowded; 
and I am grateful to you for your attendance, and your 
patience in listening to me, and for the encouragement that 
you gave me by your applause. 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



[A Lecture delivered by Very Bev. T. X. Burlce, O.P., in St. Andrew's 
Church, New Tori', May 19, 1872.] 

"Thou art the glory of Jerusalem ; thou art the joy of Israel ; thou 
art the honor of our people." 

These words, dearly beloved brethren, are found in the 
Book of Judith, and they commemorate a great and event- 
ful period of Jewish history. At that time, the Assyrian King 
sent a mighty army, under his general, Holofernes, to subdue 
all the nations of the earth, and to oblige them not only to 
forego their own national existence, but also to conform to 
the religion and the rites of the Assyrians. This great army 
the Scriptures describe to us as invincible. Their horses cov- 
ered the plains ; then- soldiers filled the valleys ; there was no 
power upon the earth able to resist them ; until at length 
they came before a city of Judea, called Bethulia. They 
summoned the fortress, and commanded the soldiers to surren- 
der. Now, in that town there was a woman by the name of 
Judith. The Scriptures say of her that she was a holy 
woman • that she fasted every day of her life, and that, though 
young and fair and beautiful to behold, she lived altogether 
a secluded life, absorbed in prayer to God. When she saw 
the outlying army of the Assyrians ; — when she heard the 
proud claims of their general, — that the people of her race, of 
her nation, should resign not only their national life, but also 
their religion, and forsake the God of Israel, — she arose, in 
the might of her holiness and in the power of her strength, and 
she went forth from the city of Bethulia ; she sought the 
Assyrian camp ; she was brought into the presence of 
Holofemes himself : and at the mid hour of night, while he 
was sunk in his drunken slumbers, she entwined her hand 
in the hair of his head ; she drew his own sword from 
the scabbard that hung by the bed; and she cut off his head, 
and brought it back in triumph to her people. The morning 
came. The army found themselves without their general. 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



273 



The J ewish soldiers and people rushed down upon them, and 
there was a mighty slaughter and a scattering of the enemies 
of God and of Israel. And then the people, returning, met 
this wonderful woman ; and the High Priest said to her these 
words : " Thou art the glory of Jerusalem ; thou art the joy 
of Israel ; thou art the honor of our people." 

Now, dearly beloved, this is not the only woman recorded 
in Scripture who did great things for the people and for the 
Church of God 5 and the word of Scripture, as applied to her, 
was meant in a higher and a greater sense : it was meant 
directly for Judith • but it was meant in a far higher and 
"nobler sense for her of whom I am come to speak to you this 
evening, — the Virgin Mother, who brought forth our Lord 
Jesus Christ into this earth. To Mary does the word apply 
especially, as every great, heroic woman who appears in 
Scripture typified her. The sister of Moses, who led the 
choirs of the daughters of Israel 5 the daughter of Jeptha, 
who laid down her virgin life for her people 5 Deborah, who 
led the hosts of Israel ; the mother of the Maccabees, stand- 
ing in the blood of her seven sons ; — these, and all such 
women of whom the Scriptures make mention, were all types 
of the higher, the greater, the real, yet the ideal woman, 
who w T as in the designs of God to be " the glory of Jerusa- 
lem, the joy of Israel, and the honor of our people 5 " namely, 
the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary. It is of the first 
of her graces that I am come to speak to you. The first of 
her graces was her immaculate conception. Let us consider 
this, and we shall see how she is " the glory of Jerusalem, 
the joy of Israel," and the honor of our race and of our 
people. 

Dearly beloved, we know that, before the eyes of God, 
before the mind of God, before the eternal councils of God, 
there is no such thing as past or future as we behold it in 
the course of time. All that we consider in the past, in this 
world's history, is before the Almighty God, at this moment, 
as if it were at this moment taking place. All that we con- 
sider in the future, even to the uttermost stretch of eternity, 
is before the mind of God now, as if it were actually taking 
place under His eyes ; for the difference between time and 
eternity is this : that in time — that is to say, in the span of 
our life and of the world's history — every thing comes 
in succession ) event follows event, and each moment 



274 



FATHER BUBKE'S DISCOUBSES. 



of time follows the moment that went before it • but in eter- 
nity, — in time as viewed in relation to God, when time 
assumes the infinite dimensions of eternity, — there is neither 
past nor future, but all is present under the eye of God, 
circumscribed by His infinite vision and His infinite wisdom. 
Therefore, all that ever was to take place in time, was seen 
and foreseen by the Almighty God. He foresaw the creation 
of man, although that creation did not come until after the 
eternal years that never had a beginning. And so He fore- 
saw the fall of man ; how the first of our race was to pollute 
his own nature by sin, and in that personal pollution was to 
pollute our whole nature, because our nature came from Him. 
Just as when a man poisons the fountain-head of a river, — 
goes up into the mountains, finds the little spring from winch 
the river comes, that afterwards, passing into the valley, 
enlarges its bed and swells in its dimensions, until it rolls a 
mighty torrent into the ocean ; — if you go up into the moun- 
tain; — if you poison the fountain-head of the little stream 
that comes out from under the rock 5 — all the waters that 
flow in the river-bed become infected and poisoned ; because 
the spring and the source of the river is tainted. So also, 
in Adam, our nature sinned. He lay at the fountain-head 
of humanity ; and the whole stream of our nature that flowed 
from him came down to you and to me with the taint 
and poison of sin in our blood and in our veins. Therefore 
does the Apostle say that " we are all born children of the 
wrath of God ; " therefore did the Prophet of old say, " For, 
behold I was conceived in iniquity and in sin did my mother 
conceive me." God saw and foresaw all this from eternity ; 
He saw that His creature, man, whom He made so pure, so 
perfect, so holy, was to be spoiled and tainted by sin. In 
that universal corruption, the Almighty God reserved to 
Himself one, and only one, of the race of mankind, and pre- 
served that one specimen of our race unpolluted, untainted, 
unfallen. That one was the Blessed Virgin Mary. Cer- 
tainly such a one must have existed : because the Scripture, 
— the inspired word of Gocl, — speaks of such a one when it 
says, in the language of the Psalmist : " Thou art all fair, 
my beloved, and there is no spot nor stain in thee." Who 
is she? Is she multiplied! Is she found here and there 
among the daughters of men J ? ; she is one and only one. 
Therefore the Scripture says : " My beloved, my love, my 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



275 



dove is one and only one." That one was the Blessed 
Virgin Mary. God took her and preserved her from the 
stream of corruption that infected our whole nature. God 
folded His arms of infinite sanctity around her, and took her 
in the very first moments of her existence, — nay, in the eternal 
decree that went before that existence. He folded her in the 
arms of His own infinite sanctity ; and she is the one to whom 
shade or thought of sin or evil has never been allowed to 
approach. Why is this ? Because, dearly beloved, she was 
destined from all eternity to be the Mother of God, who was 
made incarnate in her. The language of the Church is : "He 
was incarnate of the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, and 
was made man." She was destined from all eternity to be 
the Mother of God, — to give to the Almighty God that 
humanity, that body, that flesh and blood which He was to 
assume in His own divine person, and to make one with God 
by the unity of one divine person, the Second Person of the 
Blessed Trinity. Reflect upon this. 

The Scriptures expressly tell us that nothing defiled can 
approach to God — that nothing with the slightest speck or 
stain of sin upon it can come near God. Therefore it is that, 
in proportion as men approach to God, in the same proportion 
are they immaculate. Almighty God tells us, in the Scrip- 
ture, expressly, that, although all men were to be born in sin, 
yet there were a few, a very few, who were excepted from 
that general rule, because they were allowed to approach so 
near God. The Prophet Jeremias was excepted from that 
rule ; and he was sanctified before he came forth from his 
mother's womb. " Before thou earnest forth from thy mother, 
I sanctified thee," said the Lord. And why ? Because he 
was destined to be a prophet, and to propound the word of 
God to the people. John the Baptist was sanctified in his 
mother's womb, and came forth in his birth free from the 
original sin of Adam, because he was destined to be the one 
among men to say : " Behold the Lamb of God who takes 
away the sins of the world." And if these men, — one because 
he was to preach the word of God, another because he was to 
point out God to man, — if they, because of this high function, 
were born without sin, surely, dearly beloved, we must con- 
clude that the woman who was to give God His sacred human- 
ity, the woman who was to be the Mother of God, the woman 
who was to afford to the Almighty God that blood by which 



276 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



He wiped out the sin of the world, that w^oman must receive 
far more than either John the Baptist or Jeremias received ; 
and the grace that she received must have been the grace of 
her conception without sin. And, in truth, as nothing 
defiled, nothing tainted, was ever allow r ed to approach 
Almighty God, the woman w r ho approached Him nearest of 
all the daughters of the earth, who came nearer to God than 
all His Angels in Heaven were allowed to approach Him, 
must be the only one of whom the Scripture speaks when it 
says : " My beloved is one and only one, and she is all fair, 
and there is no spot nor stain in her." 

What follows from this ? It follows that the immaculate 
woman who was destined to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, 
received at the first moment of her being a grace inconceiv- 
ably gi eater than all the grace that was given to all the 
Angels in heaven, to all the Saints upon the earth, because 
the dignity in wdiich she w r as created w T as inconceivably 
greater than theirs. The highest Angel in heaven was made 
but to be the servant of God ; Mary w^as created to be the 
Mother of God. What was that grace 1 ? Perfect purity, 
perfect sinlessness, perfect immaculateness, and consequently 
perfect love of God and highest union w 7 ith Him. For, reflect, 
my dear friends, wheresoever the human soul is found per- 
fectly free from sin, without spot or stain of sin, without the 
slightest inclination or temptation to sin, — wheresoever such 
a soul is found, that soul is united to the Almighty God by 
the highest, by the most perfect and the most intimate union 
of divine love. God loves all His creatures ; God loves the 
soul of man ; so that wherever He finds that there is no im- 
pediment of sin, no distortion of inclination, nothing to hinder 
that union, He gives himself to that soul in the most intimate 
and the highest form of love ; and He gathers that soul to 
him by a most perfect union. Hence it is that perfect union 
with God and perfect sinlessness mean one and the same 
thing. 

The Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without sin, was kept 
and held aside to let the stream of sin flow by without touch- 
ing her. The only one in w 7 hom our nature was preserved 
in all its pristine beauty and perfection, the blessed Virgin 
Mary, in that sinlessness of her conception, attained at the 
moment of her conception the most perfect and intimate union 
with God. And this, — for which all the Saints and all holy 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 277 



souls strive on the earth, — the very highest climax of saintly 
perfection, — was the first beginning of her sanctity. The saint 
who wearies himself during the sixty or seventy years of his 
life, the hermit in the desert, the martyr in the arena, all aim 
at this one thing, — to purge their souls most perfectly from 
sin, from every mortal and venial sin • to rise above their 
passions and their lower and sinful nature ) and, in proportion 
as they attain to this, do they climb the summit of perfection 
and attain to closer union with God. That which all the 
saints tend to, — that which all the virgins and saints in the 
Church thirst for, — that which they consider as the very 
summit of their perfection, — that is the grace that was given 
to Mary at the first moment of her being ; — namely, to be 
perfectly pure, perfectly sinless, perfectly immaculate, con- 
sequently, perfectly united to God by supreme and most 
intimate union. And this is the meaning of the word of 
Scripture : " The foundations of her are laid upon the holy 
mountain. The Lord loves the threshold of Zion more 
than all the tabernacles and tents of Judah ; ?; more than all 
the accumulated perfection of all the Angels and Saints of 
God. "Where they end is the beginning of Mary ? s perfection 
in His sight. 

And now let me apply the text : " Thou art the glory of 
Jerusalem ; thou art the joy of Israel ) thou art the honor of 
our people." Whenever the Scriptures speak figuratively or 
spiritually of Jerusalem, they always allude to the Kingdom 
of Heaven, the kingdom of the just made perfect. The 
Church of God, dearly beloved, consists of three great 
elements or portions. There is the Church that purges, in 
Purgatory, the elect of God, by the slow action of divine 
justice, cleansing them from every stain and paying the last 
farthing of their debt. That is the Church Suffering. There 
is the Church on earth, contending against the world, the flesh, 
and the devil 5 fighting a hard and weary battle, which you 
and I are obliged to fight every day of our lives. W r e are 
obliged to fight against our passions and subdue them. We 
are obliged to fight against the powers of darkness seeking our 
destruction, and subdue them. We are obliged to fight with 
the world, surrounding us with its evil maxims, with its loose 
principles, with its false ideas of morality, with its bad 
example ; and, despising all these, to conquer them. We 
are obliged to fight the battle of our faith. We are obliged 



278 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



to enter upon this, that, and the other questions, and upon 
these questions to take our stand as Catholics, and to fight 
the good fight of faith. The question of Sacraments, the 
question of Education, the question of the Church, the ques- 
tion of the Pope, the question of the injustice of the world in 
robbing him of all his power and of his dignity ; these, and 
a thousand others, are the burden of the Church% battle on 
this earth ; and, therefore, she is called the ChurcqjIMilitant. 
But the Suffering Church or the Militant Church isnjtill the 
Church of God. Having passed through the battle-field of 
earth, having passed through the purgation of Purgatory, and 
having attained to the vision of God, there she triumphs ; 
there she rejoices in the undiminished glory and the uncreated 
brightness of God; — and that is the Church Triumphant. 
Now, the Scriptures, speaking of that Kingdom of Heaven, or 
of the Church Triumphant, mentions it under the name of 
Jerusalem. For instance : " I saw/ 7 says the inspired 
Evangelist, " the New Jerusalem descending from Heaven, 
as a bride arrayed for her bridegroom." St. Paul, speaking 
of the same Kingdom, says : " Thou art come to Mount Zion, 
and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to the kingdom of the just made perfect." Jerusalem, 
therefore, as expressed in the words of my text, " Thou art 
the glory of Jerusalem," means the Church Triumphant. It 
means the glorious assemblage of all the Angels of God ; it 
means the glorious society of all the Saints of God , it means 
all that Heaven or earth ever held or had of noble, 
generous, self-sacrificing and devoted, now crowned with 
the everlasting glory of the presence of God. And of that 
assemblage of the Church Triumphant Mary is the glory. 
She is the glory : and why ? Because, as the Scripture tells 
us expressly, the Angels of God are interested in the affairs 
of this world. Our Lord, speaking of little children, says : 
" Woe to you who scandalize them • because their Angels 
see the face of my Father." Elsewhere He says : " There is 
more joy in Heaven for one sinner doing penance than for 
ninty-nine just who need not repentance." If, then, the 
Angels in Heaven rejoice at every new manifestation of the 
glory and omnipotence of God ; if their glory is to contem- 
plate the Almighty God in His works ; it follows that, when- 
ever they see these wwks destroyed, whenever they see the 
purposes of the Almighty God frustrated, whenever they see 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



279 



the work and the mercy of God ruined, they must grieve, as 
far as they are capable of grieving, because they rejoice when 
that work is restored by repentance. They, therefore, look- 
ing down from their high places in Heaven, beheld with 
great joy the new-born race of men 5 they beheld the work of 
God, most perfect in our first parents, Adam and Eve. They 
saw in the first woman that was created the woman who was 
destined in her progeny to people Heaven with saints, and to 
fill the thrones that were left vacant there by the defection of 
the rebel angels. Their glory was that their choirs before God 
might be filled, and that the chorus of Heavenly music might 
be perfect in its harmony by the filling of their places. They 
saw that one-third of their angelic brethren had fallen into 
hell, and left the halls of Heaven more or less empty by 
their fall. They waited, — they waited for many years, — we 
know not how long : we know not but that that time of 
waiting may have extended for thousands of years ; — until, 
at length, they beheld the Creator make the new creature, 
man. They knew the destinies of man 5 they knew that this 
woman, who was created upon the earth, was to be the mother 
of the race that was to fill up their choirs, and to fulfil and 
make perfect their glory in Heaven. Oh, how sad was their 
disappointment ! — oh, how terrible was their grief, when they 
saw Eve fall into sin, and become the mother of a race of 
reprobates, and not of saints, and her destiny change ; that 
she should people hell with reprobates rather than fulfil her 
high destiny and people Heaven with saints. Mary arose. 
The earth beheld her face. Her coming was as the rising 
of the morning star, which, trembling in its silvery beauty 
over the eastern hills, tells the silent and the darkened world 
that the bright sun is about to follow it and dispel the dark- 
ness of the night by the splendor and the brightness of its 
shining. Mary arose ; and when the Angels of God beheld 
her, their glory was fulfilled ) for now they knew that the 
mother of the Saints was come, and that the woman was 
created who was to do what had failed in Eve, — to people 
Heaven and fill Heaven's choirs with the progeny of saints in 
everlasting glory. Therefore did they hail her coming with 
angelic joy. Oh, what joy was theirs when they looked 
down upon the earth and beheld the fallen race of man re- 
stored in all its first integrity in Mary ! Oh, what joy was 
theirs who rejoiced when Magdalen arose in all the purity of 



280 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



her repentance ; — they who rejoice and make the vaults of 
Heaven ring with their joy when you or I make a good con- 
fession, and do penance for our sins ! Oh, what must their 
joy have been, and the riot of their delight and of their 
glory, when Mary arose, and they beheld, in her, the mother 
of all those who are ever to be saved, the mother of all true 
penitents, the mother of all the elect of God ; for, becoming 
the mother of Jesus Christ, she has become the mother of all 
the just. Therefore, she is the glory of the heavenly 
Jerusalem. Therefore did these Angels, on the day of her 
assumption, joyfully come to Heaven's gate, and fill the mid- 
air with the sound of their triumph, when Heaven's Queen, the 
Mother of God, was raised to the place of her glory. " The 
morning stars praised the Lord together, and all the suns of 
God made a joyful melody." The glory of Jerusalem, the 
Angels' glory is concentrated in the glory of God. Whatever 
gives glory to God glorifies them. Now, in all the works 
of God, He is most glorified in Mary, as we shall see ; and 
therefore Mary is the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, and 
the delight of God's blessed Spirits and Angels in His 
everlasting kingdom. 

But she is more ; she is " the joy of Israel." What is this 
Israel'? Jerusalem was the summit of Israel's triumphs. 
Israel had to fight for many a weary year before the founda- 
tions of the Holy City were laid. Israel, that is to say, the 
Jewish people, passed through the desert, crossing the Eed 
Sea, fighting with their enemies, there to wait for many a 
long and weary year, until the Holy City of Jerusalem was 
raised up . in all its beauty, and until the temple of God was 
founded there. And just as that city, Jerusalem, represents 
the Church Triumphant, so by the name of Israel the inspired 
writer meant the Church Militant, the Church in the desert 
of this earth, the Church passing through the Red Sea of the 
martyrs' blood, the Church crossing swords with every enemy 
of God, and fighting and bearing the burden and heat of the 
day. Of that Church Militant, of that Israel of God, Mary 
is the joy. Why f Dearly beloved, Christ, our Lord, founded 
His Church for one express purpose, and it was that, where 
sin had abounded, sin might be destroyed and grace abound 
still more. u For this I am come," He says, " that where sin 
hath abounded grace might abound still more." Wherever, 
therefore, there is a victory over sin by Divine grace, there is 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



231 



the joy of the Church Militant, because there is her work ac- 
complished. Wherever the sinner rises out of his sin, and 
does penance and returns to God, there the Church triumphs, 
her mission is fulfilled, the purpose for which she was created 
is accomplished, and her joy is great in proportion. Now 
where has grace so triumphed as in Mary ? Sin abounded in 
this world. Christ came and shed His blood that grace might 
take the place of sin, and superabound where sin had abound- 
ed before. Where has grace so triumphed over sin as in 
Mary ! Great is the triumph of grace when it expels sin 
from the sinner's soul and makes that which was impure to 
be purified, and makes that which was unjust to be glorified 
by sanctity before God. Oh, still greater is the triumph 
when grace can so anticipate sin as never to allow it to make 
its appearance ! The most perfect triumph of grace is in the 
utter exclusion of sin. Therefore, it is that Christ, our Lord, 
in His sacred humanity, was grace itself personified in man ; 
because in Him there was essential holiness, and an utter 
impossibility of the approach of sin. If, therefore, the joy 
of the Church be in proportion to the triumph of grace over 
sin, surely she must be " the joy of Israel/ 7 and the first fruits 
of the Church, the only one that this mystical body of Christ 
can offer to God as perfectly acceptable 5 the only soul, the 
only creature that the Church can offer to God and say : 
u Lord, look down from Heaven upon this child and daughter 
of mine ; she is Thy beloved in whom there is no spot nor 
stain. She is the joy of Israel." 

Oh, my dearly beloved, need I tell you, — you who were 
born in the faith like myself ; you who come from Catholic 
stock, who come from Catholic blood ; you in whose veins, 
in whose Irish veins, hundreds of years of Catholic faith and 
Catholic sanctity are flowing, — need I tell you of the woman 
whose name, preached by Patrick, fourteen hundred years 
ago, has been, from that hour to this, Ireland's greatest con- 
solation in the midst of her sorrows ? In the loss of fortune, 
in the loss of property, in the loss of liberty, in the loss of 
national existence, every Irish Catholic has been consoled in 
the midst of his privations, by the thought that the Mother 
of God loved him, and that he had a claim upon Mary 
Mother. Well do I remember one whose expression em- 
bodied all of Irish faith and Irish love for Mary ,* an old 
woman whom I met, weeping over a grave, lying there with 



282 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



a broken heart, waiting only for the kind hand of Death to 
put her into the dust where all she had loved had gone before 
her ; forgotten by all, abandoned by all, the hand of misery 
and poverty upon her ; and when I would console and speak 
to her of heaven and of heaven's glory 5 when I endeavored 
to lighten the burden of her sorrow by consolation 5 she 
turned to me and said : " Oh, Father, you need not speak to 
me. The cross may be heavy, but the Virgin Mary's cross was 
heavier than mine." She forgot her sorrows in her great love 
for Mary. Nay, that love, even in her sorrow, was as a gleam 
of hope, one ray of joy let in upon the soul that otherwise 
might have despaired. And thus it is that Mary, — the know- 
ledge of her love for us, the knowledge of our claim upon 
her, through her divine Son, and the knowledge of the 
divine commission that He gave her upon the Cross, to be 
the Mother of all that were ever to love Him, — is the one 
ray of joyful and divine consolation that Christ, our Lord, lets 
in upon every wounded spirit, and every loving, grieving 
heart. 

Finally, she is " the honor of our people." Dear friends, 
the Almighty God when He created us made man in perfection : 
u Deus fecit hominem rectum." He gave to man a mighty 
intelligence, a high and a pure love, and a freedom of will 
asserting the dominion of the soul over the body, and through 
that body the dominion of man over all creatures. Every 
thing on this earth obeyed him. The eagle, flying in the 
upper air, closed his wrings and came to earth to pay homage 
to the unfallen man. The lion and the tiger, at the sound of 
his voice, came forth from then lairs to lick the feet of their 
imperial master, the unfallen man. As every thing without 
him was obedient to him, so every thing within him was 
obedient to the dictates of his clear reason and to the empire 
of his will. In this was the honor of God reflected as it was 
invested in man. God gave him intelligence. God is 
wisdom : His wisdom was invested in man. God gave him 
love. God is love : and the purity of that love was reflected 
in the affections of unfallen man. God is power, empire, and 
freedom : and the empire of God, and the freedom of God, 
were reflected in the free will of man, in the imperial sway 
in which he commanded all creatures. Thus was the honor 
of God invested in us. Now, sin came and destroyed all 
this. The serpent came and whispered his temptation in the 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



283 



ears of the vain and foolish woman, who, unmindful of all 
that she had, risked all and lost all for the gratification of 
her appetite and of her womanly curiosity. The serpent 
came and told Eve to rebel against God. Eve rebelled j 
she induced Adam to rebel ) and, in this two-fold rebellion, 
man lost all that God had given him of grace and of super- 
natural gifts. All of divine honor that God Almighty had 
reflected in man, all of divine glory that he had imparted to 
man, all was lost. The intelligence was darkened ; the affec- 
tions were depraved ; the freedom of the soul was enslaved ; 
and man was no longer the high, and pure, and perfect image 
of his Creator. 

Now, as we have seen in that sin of Adam, not only was 
that man himself destroyed and corrupted, but the whole race 
of mankind was corrupted in him. How is Mary the honor 
of our people ■? She is the honor of our people in this, that 
where all was ruined, she alone was preserved ; that, but for 
her and her immaculate conception, neither God in Heaven, 
nor Saint nor Angel in Heaven, nor man upon the earth 
would ever again look upon the face of unfallen man. The 
work of God would have been completely destroyed : not a 
vestige would remain of what man was as he came from his 
Creator's hand, but that the Almighty preserved one unfallen 
specimen of our race, to show His Angels and His Saints in 
Heaven, and to show all men upon the earth, what a glorious 
humanity was the untainted nature which God had invested 
in man. She is the solitary boast of our fallen nature. Take 
Mary away 5 deprive her of the grace of her immaculate 
conception 5 let the slightest taint of sin come in ; — she is 
spoiled like the rest of us : and the Almighty God has not 
retained, in the destruction of our race, one single specimen 
of unfallen nature. But not so j for God in all His works 
may allow His enemy to prevail against Him ) He may allow 
the spirit of evil to come in, and spoil and taint and destroy 
His works 5 but He never allows His works to be utterly 
destroyed : never. When mankind fell from God and from 
grace, so that the image of God disappeared, and the spirit 
of God from among them j and the Almighty found it 
necessary to destroy the whole race of man in the Deluge, — 
He preserved Noah, and his sons, and his daughters. Eight 
souls were preserved, while hundreds of millions were 
destroyed ; but God, in these eight souls, preserved the race, , 



284 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



and did not allow the spirit of evil to utterly destroy His 
work. When God drew back again the bolts of heaven, and 
allowed the living fire of His wrath to fall upon Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and destroyed the whole nation, yet even .then 
He saved Lot and his family ; and a few were saved, where 
all the rest were lost. When the Almighty resolved to 
destroy, for their imparity, the race of Benjamin, yet He 
preserved a few, lest the whole tribe might be utterly 
destroyed. 

And thus it is that we find the Almighty God always 
preserving one or two specimens of His work, lest the devil 
might glory overmuch, and riot in his joy for having utterly 
destroyed the work of God. Our nature was destroyed in 
Eve. One fair specimen of all that could be in us, — of all 
that was in Adam before his sin, — of all that God intended 
us to be, — one fair specimen of all this was preserved in 
Mary, who, in her immaculate conception, enshrined in the 
infinite holiness of God, was preserved untainted and un- 
f alien, as if Adam had never sinned. It may be asked, if, 
then, this woman was without sin, if she was conceived 
without sin, how is it that she calls Christ her Saviour, 
saying : u My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
hath rejoiced in God, my Saviour." Oh, my friends, need I 
tell you that Christ, our Lord, is as much the Saviour of Mary 
as He is your. Saviour or mine ? Xeed I tell you that, but 
for His incarnation, but for His suffering and passion and 
death, Mary could not have received the grace of her immacu- 
late conception, any more than you or I could have received 
the grace of our baptism ? Baptism has done for us, as far 
as regards the removal of original sin, all that her immacu- 
late conception did for Mary. For the four thousand years 
that went before the incarnation of the Son of God, every 
child of Adam that was saved, was saved through the antici- 
pated merits of the blood that was shed upon Calvary. 
Adam himself was saved, Moses was saved, Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, Daniel, all the Prophets, all the Saints were 
saved by their faith in the Son of God, and by the pre- 
vision of His merits before His Eternal Father. The merits 
of the Son of God, as yet unincarnate, yet foreseen and 
applied, thousands of years before their time, to the souls of 
the Patriarchs and the Prophets, — the self-same merits were 
applied to the soul of Mary in the eternal design of God, in 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



285 



her immaculate conception. He is as much her Saviour as 
He is ours ; only He saved her in a way quite different from 
that in which we were saved. You may save a man, for 
instance, by keeping him from going into the way of danger ; 
you may save a child by taking it out of the street, when 
some dangerous procession is passing, or when some railway 
engine is passing — something that may endanger its life ,• or 
you may save the same child, when in immediate danger, by 
the touch of your powerful and saving hand, and restore it to 
life. So, the Almighty God saved Mary by preventing the 
evil, just as He saves us by cleansing us from the evil which 
has already fallen on us. Hence it is that she, more than 
any of us, had reason to call Christ, her Son, her Lord and 
her Saviour. u My soul doth magnify the Lord," she said, 
" and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Truly 
He was her Saviour. Truly He shows His power in the 
manner in which He saved her. He did not permit her to 
be immersed in the ocean of sin. He did not take her, as 
something filthy and defiled, and wash her soul in the laver 
of Baptism ; but he applied the graces of Baptism to her 
conception ; so that she came into this world all pure, all 
holy, all immaculate, just as the Christian child comes forth 
frOm the baptismal font. 

Behold, then, how she is the glory of the heavenly Jeru- 
salem, the joy of the earthly Church of Israel, and the honor 
of our people ; seeing that, if Mary were not as she is in 
Heaven, immaculate and unstained, that Heaven would be, 
after all, only a congregation of penitents. Every other 
soul that enters Heaven enters as a Magdalen — at least, as 
Magdalen rising from original sin. Mary alone entered 
Heaven, as Eve would have entered if she had resisted the 
evil and conquered the temptation of sin. Thus do we 
behold the Mother of God as she shines forth before us in 
the prophecy of Scripture — an honor and a triumph and a 
symbol of God's complete victory. The victory that God 
gains over sin is not complete when He has to come to remedy 
that evil after it has fallen upon the soul. The complete 
triumph of God is when He is able to preserve the soul from 
any approach of that evil, and to keep it in all its original 
purity and immaculateness and innocence. 

Such was the woman whom the Prophet beheld : " And 
a great sign appeared in Heaven — a woman clothed with the 



286 



FATHER B TJBKWS DISCO UBSBS. 



sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown 
of twelve stars." Of what was this woman a sign? She 
was the sign of the victory of God ; for he adds : " And I 
saw another sign in Heaven, a great dragon coming to 
devour the woman and to destroy her 5 but it was cast forth 
and there was no room for him nor place for him any more 
in Heaven." And Mary shone forth, in the eternal council 
of God, the very sign and type, promise and symbol of God's 
victory over sin. God's victory over sin was complete, as 
every victory of God is 5 and the completeness of that victory 
was embodied in the immaculate conception of Mary. 

What wonder, then, my dearly beloved, that we should 
honor one whom God has so loved to honor ! What wonder 
that we should hail her as all-pure ,• hail her from earth, 
whom God hailed from Heaven, saying : " Thou art all fair, 
my beloved, and there is no stain in thee ! " What wonder 
that we should rejoice in her who is the joy and the glory 
of the heavenly Jerusalem ! What wonder that we should 
sing praises to her 5 put her forth as the very type of purity, 
innocence, and virtue, whom the Almighty God so filled 
with all his highest gifts, that Heaven and earth never beheld 
such a creature as Mary 5 that the very Angel, coming down 
from before the throne of God, was astonished when he 
beheld her greatness ; and, bending in his human form before 
her, said : " All hail to thee, Mary, for thou art full of 
graced and when she trembled at his words, he assured her, 
saying : " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace before 
the Lord." Oh, how grand was her finding! Grace was 
lost by the first woman, Eve : and every daughter of earth 
sought it for four thousand years, and found it not. How 
could they find it ? They came into this world without it. 
How could they find that grace which Eve had lost ? They 
came tainted by Eve's sin upon this earth. Mary alone found 
it — the grace of immaculate creation, the grace of primeval 
purity. Therefore, the Angel said to her : — " Fear not, I tell 
thee thou shalt be the mother of God, and that He that is to 
be born of thee shall be called the Son of' the Most High. 
Yet, woman, fear not, for I say to thee, that thou hast 
found grace before the Lord." Therefore do we honor her, my 
dearly beloved ; therefore do we rejoice that she, being such 
as she is, is still our mother and regards us with a mother's 
love; and we can look up to her with the unsuspecting 



THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



287 



and all-confiding love of childhood. mother mine ! — 
mother of all the nations ! — mother that kept the faith 
in that land of our mothers, that through temptation and 
suffering never lost her love for thee, — that, famished and 
famine-stricken, never lost the faith, — I hail thee ! As thou 
art in Heaven to-night, clothed with the sun of divine justice, 
with the moon reflecting all earthly virtues beneath thy feet, 
and upon thy head a crown of twelve stars, — God's brightest 
gift, — I hail thee, mother ! And in the name of the Catholic 
Church, and in the name of my Catholic people, and in the 
name of the far-off and loved land that ever loved thee, I 
proclaim that " thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the 
joy of Israel, and thou art the honor of our people ! 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



[-4 Lecture delivered by the Very Rev. T. N. JBurhe, O.P., in St. 
Peter's Church, New York, Hay 23, 1872.] 

I PROPOSE to speak to you, my dear friends, this evening-, 
on the question of "Catholic Education." My attention was 
attracted, this morning, to a notice in one of the leading 
papers of this city, in which the miter warned me, that, if I 
was not able to find a solution for this difficult question of 
Education, which would be acceptable to all classes, I might 
please my co-religionists, but that I could not please the 
public. While I am grateful to the writer of that article, 
or to any one else that gives me advice, I have to tell you, 
my Mends, and the writer of that notice, and everybody else, 
that I am not come to this country, nor have I put on this 
habit to please either the public or my co-religionists, but to 
announce the truth of God. in the name of His holy Church. 
He who accepts it, and believes it, and acts upon it, shall be 
saved : he that does not choose to believe, Christ, our Lord, 
Himself says shall be condemned. God help us ! God pity 
the people whose religious teachers have to try and "please 
their co-religionists and the public /" Great Lord! how ter- 
rible it is when the spirit of farce and of unreality finds its 
way, even into the mind of the man who is to proclaim the 
truth by which alone his fellow-men and himself can be saved ! 
But it was remarked, and truly, in the same article, that 
" this is one of the most — perhaps, the most, — important ques- 
tions of the day." Xo doubt, it is. I do not suppose I could 
have a more important theme for the subject of my thoughts 
or of my words, than that of Education. This is a question 
that comes home to every man among us. No man can close 
his mind against it. 'Xo man can shut it out from his thoughts. 
Xo man in the community can fold his aims and say, " This 
is a question which does not concern me, consequently upon 
which I am indifferent." Xo : and why ? Because every 
man among us is obliged to live in society : that is to say, 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



289 



in inter-communion with his fellow-men. Every man's hap- 
piness or misery depends, in a large degree, upon the state of 
society, in which he lives. If the associations that surround 
us are good, and holy, and pure ; if our children are obedient j 
if our servants are honest if our friends are loyal, and our 
neighbors are peaceable ; if the persons w T ho supply us with 
the necessaries of life are reliable, — how far all these things 
go to smooth away all the difficulties, and annoyances, and 
anxieties of life ! And yet, all this depends mainly upon 
education. If, on the other hand, our children be rude, dis- 
m obedient, and wilful ) if those around us be dishonest, so that 
we must be constantly on our guard against them; if our 
friends be false, so that we know not upon whose word to 
rely; if every thing we use and take to clothe ourselves be 
bad, and adulterated, or poisonous y how miserable all this 
makes life ! And yet, these issues, I say again, depend 
mainly upon education. Therefore, it is a question that 
comes home to every man, and from which no man can excuse 
himself, or plead indifference or unconcern. 

Now, first of all, my • friends, consider, - that the greatest 
misfortune that Almighty God can let fall upon any man is 
the curse of utter ignorance, or want of education. The 
Holy Ghost, in the Scriptures, expressly tells us that this 
absence of knowledge, this absence of instruction and educa- 
tion, is the greatest curse that can fall upon a man, because 
it not only unfits him for his duties to God, and for the 
fellowship of the elect of God, and for every Godlike and 
eternal purpose, but it also unfits him for the society of his 
human kind ; and therefore the Scripture says so emphati- 
cally, — " Man, when he was in honor/ 7 (that is to say, created 
in honor,) u lost his knowledge." He had no knowledge. 
What followed ? He was compared to the senseless beasts, — 
made like to them. What is it that distinguishes man from 
the brute ? Is it strength of limb ? No ! Is it gracefulness 
of form ? No ! Is it acute sensations — a sense of superior 
sight, or a more intense and acute sense of hearing ? No ! 
In all these things many of the beasts that roam the forest 
exceed us. We have not the swiftness of the stag ; — we 
have not the strength of the lion ; — we have not the beauti- 
ful grace of the antelope of the desert ; — we have not the 
power to soar into the upper air, like the eagle, who lifts him- 
self upon strong pinions and eazes on the sun. We have 

13 



290 FA TREE B UBKE'S DISCO TJBSES. 



not the keen sense of sight of many animals, nor the keen 
sense of hearing of others. In what, then, lies the differ- 
ence and the superiority of man. Oh, my dear friends, it 
lies in the intelligence that can know, and the heart which, 
guided by that intelligence, is influenced to love for intellec- 
tual motives, and in the will which is supposed to preserve 
its freedom by acting under the dominion of that enlightened 
intellect and mind. For, mark you, it is not the mere power 
of knowing that distinguishes man from the brutes, and 
brings him to the perfection of his nature. It is the actual 
presence of knowledge. It is not the mere power of loving 
that distinguishes man from the lower creatures. No. For 
if that love be excited by mere sensuality, — by the mere ap- 
peal to the senses, — it is not the high human love of man, 
but it is the mere lust of desire and passion of the brute. It 
is not the will that distinguishes man in the nobility of his 
nature from the brute ; but it is the will, preserving its free- 
dom, keeping itself free from the slavery, and dominion of 
brute passions, and answering quickly — heroically — to every 
dictate of the high, and holy, and enlightened intelligence 
that is in man. What follows from this ? It follows that 
if you deprive man of intelligence or knowledge ; — if you 
leave him in utter ignorance, and withdraw education, you 
thereby starve, and, as far as you can, annihilate the very 
highest portion of the soul of man ; you thereby dwarf all 
his spiritual powers 5 you thereby leave that soul, which was 
created to grow, and to wax strong, and to be developed by 
knowledge, — you leave it in the imbecility and the helpless- 
ness of its natural, intellectual, and spiritual infancy. What 
follows from this ? It follows that the uneducated, unin- 
structed, ignorant, dw r arfed individual is incapable of influenc- 
ing the affections of the heart with any of the higher 
motives of love. It follows that, if that heart of man is ever 
to love, it will not love upon the dictate of the intelligence 
guiding it to an intellectual object, but, like the brate beast 
of the field, it will seek the gratification of all its desires upon 
the mere brutal, corporeal evidence of its senses. What fol- 
lows moreover f It follows that the will which was created by 
the Almighty God in freedom, and which, by the very compo- 
sition of man's nature, w r as destined to exercise that freedom 
under the dictates of intelligence, is now left without its proper 
ruler, — an intelligent, instructed intellect ; and, therefore, in 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



291 



the uninstructed man, the allegiance of the will — the 
dominion of the will — is transferred to the passions, to the 
desires and depraved inclinations of man's lower nature. 
And so we see that, in the purely and utterly uninstructed 
man, there can be no loftiness of thought, no real purity of 
affection ; nor can there be any real intellectual action of the 
will of man. Therefore, I conclude that the greatest curse 
Almighty God can let fall upon a man is the curse of utter 
ignorance, unfitting him thereby for every purpose of God 
and every purpose of society. 

First, then, my dear friends, I assert that want of educa- 
tion, or ignorance, unfits a man for his position, no matter 
how humble it be, in this world and in society. For all 
human society exists among men, and not among inferior 
animals, because of the existence in men of intelligence. 
All human society or intercourse is based upon intellectual 
communication ; — thought meeting thought ,* intellectual 
sympathy corresponding with the sympathy of others. But 
the man who is utterly uninstructed ; •the man wdio has 
never been taught to read or write ; the man who has never 
been taught to exercise any act of his intelligence 5 — the poor, 
neglected child that w~e see about our streets, growing up 
without receiving any word of instruction, — that child grows 
up, — rises to manhood utterly unfit to communicate w T ith his 
fellow-men, for he is utterly unprepared for that intercom- 
munion of intelligence and intellect which is the function of 
society. What follows ? He cannot be an obedient citizen, 
because he cannot even apprehend in his mind the idea 
of law T . He cannot be a prosperous citizen, because he 
can never turn to any kind of labor which would require 
the -slightest mental effort. In other words he cannot 
labor as a man. He is condemned by his intellectual 
imbecility to labor merely with his hands. Mere brute force 
distinguishes his labor ; and the moment you reduce a man to 
the degree and amount of corporeal strength, — the moment 
you remove from his labor the application of intellect, — that 
moment he is put in competition with the beasts, and they 
are stronger than he ; therefore he is inferior to them. Take the 
utterly uninstructed man : he it is that is the enemy of society. 
He cannot meet his fellow-men in any kind of intellect 1 ml 
intercommunion. He is shut out from all that the past tells 
him in the history of the world : from all the high present 



292 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



interests that are pressing around him : from all his future he 
is shut out by his utter destitution of all religious as well as 
civil education. What follows from this ? Isolated as he is, 
flung back upon his solitary self, — no humanizing touch, no 
gentle impulse, no softening influence even of sorrow or 
trouble, — no aspiration for something better than the present 
moment, — no remorse for sin, — no consolation for pain, — no 
relief in affliction, — nothing of all this remains to him. An 
isolated, solitary man, such as you or I might be, if in one 
moment, by God's visitation, all that we have ever learned 
should be wiped out of our minds, — all our past lost to us, — 
all the aspirations of the future cut off from us ; — such is the 
ignorant man ; and such society recognizes 'him to be. If 
there be a man who makes the State and the government of 
the State to tremble, it is the thoroughly uninstructed and un- 
educated man ; — it is the class neglected in early youth, and 
cast aside and utterly uninstructed and undeveloped in their 
souls, in their hearts, and in their intellects. It is this class 
that, from time to time, comes to the surface, in some wild 
revolution, — swarming forth in the streets of London, or the 
streets of Paris, or in the streets of the great Continental 
cities of Europe ; — swarming forth, no one knows from 
whence; coming forth from their cellars; coming forth from 
out the dark places of the city ; with fury unreasoning in 
their eyes, and the cries of demons upon their lips. These 
are the men that have dyed, their Lands red in the best blood 
of Europe, whether it came from the throne or the altar. It 
is the thoroughly uninstructed, uneducated, neglected child 
of society that rises in God's vengeance against the world 
and the society that neglected him ; — that pays them back 
with bitter interest for the neglect of his soul in his early 
youth. Therefore it is that statesmen and philosophers cry 
out, in this our day, " We must educate the people." And 
the great cry is education. Quite true ! 

And if the world demands education, much more does the 
Catholic Church. She is the true mother, not merely of the 
masses, as they are called, but of each and every individual 
soul among them. She it is to whose hands God has com- 
mitted the eternal interests of man : and therefore it is with 
a zeal far greater than that of the world, the Catholic Church 
applies herself to the subject and question of education. Why 
so 1 Because if, as we have seen, all human society is based 



CA T HO LIC ED UCA TION. 



293 



upon knowledge — upon inter- communion of intellect, — of 
which the uninstructed man is incapable, — the society which 
is called the Church— the supernatural and divine society, — 
is also much more emphatically founded upon the principles 
of knowledge. What is the foundation, the bond, the link, 
the life and soul of the Catholic Church? I answer — faith. 
Faith in God. Faith in every word that God has revealed. 
Faith, stronger than any human principle of belief, opinion, 
or conviction. Faith, not only bowing down before God, but 
apprehending what God speaks • clasping that truth to the 
mind, and informing the intelligence with its light, admitting 
it as a moral influence into every action and every motive of 
a man's life. It is the soul and life of the Catholic Church. 
Faith ! What is faith ? It is an act of the intelligence 
whereby we know and believe all that God has revealed. 
Faith, then, is knowledge ? Most certainly ! Is it an act 
of the will ? No 'j not directly — not essentially — not imme- 
diately. It is, directly, essentially, and immediately, an act of 
the intellect, and not of the will. It is the intellect that is 
the subject wherein faith resides. The will may command * 
that intellect to bow down and believe • but the essential 
act of faith is an act of the intelligence, receiving li^ht and 
accepting it 5 and that light- is knowledge • therefore the 
Catholic Church cannot exist without knowledge. 

More than this, the world has many duties which it imposes 
upon man, which require no education, little or nothing of 
instruction,* — for instance, the dut}^ of labor, where one man, 
educated and instructed, taking his position at the head of 
the works, or the engineering, is able to direct ten thousand 
men : there, among these ten thousand, no great amount of 
instruction or education is necessary or required. But the 
Catholic Church, on the other hand, imposes a great many 
tasks upon her children, every one of them requiring not only 
intellect, but highly trained and well-educated intellect. Look 
through the duties that the Church imposes upon us. Every 
one of these duties is intellectual. The Church commands 
us to pray. Prayer involves a knowledge of God • a know- 
ledge of our own wants, and a knowledge how to elevate our 
souls to God 5 for prayer is an elevation of the soul • and the 
uninstructed soul cannot elevate inself to the apprehension of 
a pure spiritual being. The Church commands us to prepare 
for confession. That involves a knowledge of the law of 



294 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



God, in order that we may examine ourselves, and see wherein 
we Lave failed ; — that involves a knowledge of ourselves, in 
order to stud} T ourselves that we may discover our sins. Pre- 
paration for confession involves a knowledge of God's claim 
to our love, in order that we may find motives for our sorrow. 
The Church commands us to approach the Holy Communion. 
That approach involves the high intellectual act whereby we 
are able with heart and with mind to realize the unseen, in- 
visible, yet present God, and to receive Him. We see the 
strong act of the intellect realizing the unseen, and trans- 
ending the evidence of the senses, so as to make that 
unseen, invisible presence act upon us more strongly, — 
agitate us more violently, — than the strongest emotion that 
the evidence of the senses can give. The Church commands 
us to understand what her Sacraments are; and that is a 
high intellectual act, whereby we recognize God's dealings 
with man through the agency of material things. In a word, 
every single duty the Catholic Church imposes is of the 
highest intellectual character. 

Ao-ain : though the world demands knowledge and educa- 
tion as the very first elements in its society, still the motive- 
power that the world proposes to every man is self-interest ; 
the appeal that the world makes through the thousand chan- 
nels through which it comes to us, is all an appeal to self. 
All the professions, all the mercantile operations, all the 
duties and pleasures of life, appeal to the individual to seek 
his own self-aggrandizement — his own self-indulgence; — to 
make life happy and pleasant to himself. Not so with the 
Church ' faith is her foundation ; and the motive she puts 
before every man is not self, but charity. Just as self con- 
centrates the heart of man, narrows his intellectual and 
spiritual horizon, makes him turn in upon his own contracted 
being, and so narrows every intellectual and spiritual power 
within him • charity, on the other hand, which is the motive 
propounded by the Church, enlarges and expands the heart 
of man, enlarges the horizon of his intellectual view, and lifts 
him up above himself. Like a man climbing the mountain 
side, every foot that he ascends he beholds the horizon en- 
larging and widening around him. So, also, every Catholic, 
the more he enters into the spirit of his holy religion, the 
more does he perceive the intellectual, moral, and spiritual 
horizon enlarging, — taking in more interests and manifesting 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



295 



more beauties of a spiritual order. So it is with the Church 
of God. She depends more upon education than even the 
world, both upon the fundamental principle of faith, which is 
an act of the intellect, and the motive of action, which is 
charity, which is an expansion* of the intellect; and also upon 
the nature of the duties which she imposes upon her children, 
and which are all of the highest intellectual character. 

And yet, my friends, strange to say, among the many 
oddities of this age of ours, there is a singular delusion which 
has taken hold of the Protestant mind, that the Catholic 
Church is opposed to education : that she is anxious to keep 
the people ignorant 5 that she is afraid to let them read ; 
that she does not like to see schools opened, and that she is 
afraid of enlightenment. They argue so blindly and yet so 
complacent!}', that when you find a good-natured and good- 
hum ored Protestant man or woman calmly talking about 
these things, it is difficult to keep from laughing • — it is 
easy enough to keep your temper, but very hard to keep 
from laughing. For instance : talking about Spain or 
Mexico j calmly and complacently telling how the whole 
country is to become Protestant as soon as the whole people 
" learn how to read, you know ! 77 and " begin to reason, you 
know ! 77 " If we can only get good schools amongst them. 7 " 
Then they believe the infernal lies told them ; for instance, 
the lie is told that, in Rome, since Victor Emmanuel entered 
it, thirty-six schools had been opened, — taking it for granted 
there were no schools there before ! I lived twelve years in 
Rome, under the Pope, and there was a school in almost 
every street : not a child in Rome was uneducated. Nay 
more ; the Christian Brothers and the Nuns went out in the 
streets of Rome, regularly, every morning, and went from 
house to house, and up stairs in the tenement houses, among 
the poor people, picking up the children ) or if they found a 
little boy running in the streets, he was taken quietly to 
school. They went out regularly to pick up the children out 
of the streets. And yet these men who are interested in4) find- 
ing the foolish Protestant mind, come with such language 
as this ; for it is the popular idea, which they wish to per- 
petuate, that the Catholic Church is afraid of education. No, 
my friends: the Catholic Church is afraid of one man more 
than any other, and that is the man who is thoroughly igno- 
rant. The man who brings disgrace upon his religion is the 



296 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



thoroughly ignorant man, if he is a professed Catholic ; and 
the man impossible to make a Catholic of, is the thoroughly 
ignorant Protestant. The more ignorant he is, the less chance 
there is of making a Catholic of him. The truth is, in this 
day of ours, the great conversions made to the Catholic Church, 
in this country and Europe, from Protestantism, all take place 
among the most enlightened, and highly educated, and cul- 
tivated people. Why J ? Because the more the Protestant 
reads, — the more he knows,— the nearer he approaches 
to the Catholic Church, the true fountain-head and source of 
education. Whv is this accusation brought against the Cath- 
olic Church, that she is afraid of this and afraid of that? I 
will tell you. Because she insists, in the teeth of the world, 
and in spite of the world ? s pride, and ignorance, and bloated 
self-sufficiency, — the Catholic Church insists, as she has 
insisted for eighteen hundred and seventy-two years, on 
saying : " I know how to teach ; you do not : you must come 
to me ) — you cannot live without me. Do not imagine you 
can live by yourselves, or you will fall back into the slough 
of your own impurity and corruption. v The world does not 
like to hear this. The Catholic Church insists that she alone 
understands what education means : the world does not like 
to hear that. But I come here to-night to prove it, not only 
to you, my Catholic friends, my co-religionists, but, if there 
be one here who is not a Catholic, to him also ,* and so to 
please the public if they choose to be pleased. But if my 
co-religionists or the public choose to be displeased, the truth 
is there, personified in the Church ,• and that truth will re- 
main after the co-religionists and the indignant public are 
all swept away. 

There are three systems of education that are before us 
in this country. There are three classes of men that are 
talking about education ; namely, — those who go for what 
is called a thoroughly secular system j those who go for a 
denominational system, as far as it is Protestant ; and the 
Catholic, who goes in for Catholic education. Let us exam- 
ine the three. There is a large class, in England and in 
America, who assume the tone of the philosopher, and who, 
with great moral dignity and infinite presumption, lay down 
the law for their neighbors, and tell them : — " There is no use 
quarrelling, my dear Baptists and Methodists, — and you, 
pestering Catholics, on the ■ other hand ; you want your 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



297 



schools ; every one wants his own school ; let us adopt a 
beautiful system of education, that will take in every one, 
and leave your religious differences among yourselves : let 
us do away with religion altogether. The child has a great 
deal to be taught independent of religion. There is history, 
philosophy, geography, geology, engineering, steam works ; 
all these things can be taught without any reference to God 
at all. So let us do this : let us adopt non-sectarian educa- 
tion." Now, my fiiends, these are two big words: non-sec- 
tarian, — a word of five syllables, — and education, — nine 
syllables altogether. Now, when people adopt great, big 
words in this way, you should always be on your guard 
against them • because if I wanted to. palm off' something not 
true, I would not set it out in plain English, but try to 
involve it in big words ; for, as the man in the story says, — 
u If * it is not sense, at least, it is Greek." So, these two 
words, non-sectarian education, if you wish to know what 
they mean, — turn it into English — non-sectarian education, 
in good old Saxon English, means teaching without God: 
five syllables. Teaching your children, fathers and mothers, 
and educating them without God ! Not a word about God, no 
more than if God did not exist ! He can be spoken of in the 
family ; He may be preached in the temple or in the church • 
but there is one establishment in the land where God must not 
come in ; wdiere God must not be mentioned j and that estab- 
lishment is the place where the young are to receive the 
education that is to determine their life, both for time and 
eternity * — the place where the young are to receive that edu- 
cation upon which eternity depends. The question of heaven 
or hell for every child there depends upon that education ; and 
that education must be given without one mention of the 
name of the God of heaven ! 

Try to let it enter into your minds what this amiable sys- 
tem is. This beautiful system is founded upon two principles 
— those tw r o principles lie at the bottom of it — namely : — 
The first principle is, that man can attain perfection without 
the aid of Jesus Christ at all. This system of education does 
not believe in Christ. It is the Masonic principle 5 the prin- 
ciple of the Freemasons over again • — namely, that God has 
made us so that, without any help from Him at all, without 
any shadow of grace, or sacrament, or religion, we can work 
out perfection in ourselves ; therefore, we are independent of 



298 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



God. It is the last result of human pride ; and hence the 
secular education which does not take cognizance of God 
says, we can bring up these children to be what they ought 
to be, without teaching them any thing about God. The 
second principle upon which it is based is, that the end of hu- 
man life, under the Christian dispensation, is not what Christ 
our Lord, or St. Paul, supposed it be, but something else. 
The Scripture says, that the end of the Christian's purposes, 
in this life, should be to incorporate himself with the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to grow into the fulness of his age and his 
manhood in Christ 5 to put on the Lord, the unity, the love, 
the generosity, and every virtue of our divine Lord and 
Saviour. This is to be the end of the Christian man 5 the 
purpose of his life, on which all depends. Now, these prin- 
ciples are expressly denied on the part of those who teach 
without God. Can they teach without God — the Almighty 
God, who has them in the hollow of his hand ? The princi- 
ple is absurd in itself. To teach human sciences without 
God, is an impossibility. For instance, can you teach 
history without God. The very first passage of history 
says : — " In the beginning, God created the heavens and the 
earth : " and, therefore, in this system of education, the pro- 
fessor of history, the teacher, must say : " My dear children, 
I am going to teach you history ; but I must not begin 
at the beginning; for there we find God, and He is not 
allowed in the school ! Can you teach philosophy without 
God ? Philosophy is defined to be the pursuit after wisdom. 
It is the science that traces effects to their causes ,* and the 
philosopher proceeds from the existence of the first cause ; 
and that first cause is God ; therefore, the philosophy that 
excludes God must begin with the second cause; just as if a 
man wanted to teach a little boy how to cast up sums, and 
he said — " We w T ill begin with number tw^o 5 there is no 
number one." The child w^ould turn round and say : — " Is 
not number two a multiplication of number one ? — how can 
there be a number two unless there is a number one to be 
multiplied ? - ; Can a man teach the alphabet and leave out 
the first letter A, and say, let us begin with the second letter 
B f Such is the attempt to teach philosophy or history with- 
out God. Can they teach geology wdthout God 1 Can they 
exclude from their disquisitions upon the earth, and the earth's 
surface, and the soil of the earth, — can they exclude the 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



299 



Creator's hand ? They attempt to do it ; but in their very 
attempt they preach their infidelity. Hence, no man can 
teach geology without being either a profound and pious 
believer in Revelation, or an avowed and open Infidel. In 
a word, not one of these human sciences is there that does not, 
in its ultimate result and analysis, fall back upon the first 
truth — the fountain of all truth — the cause of all certainty ; 
— and that is God. 

But, putting all these considerations aside, let us suppose 
we gave our children to these men to instruct them ; they 
say, the parents can teach, at home, any form of religion 
they like. Let us suppose we give our children to the in- 
struction of these men. Do they know how to educate them ? 
They do not know what the word education means. What 
does it mean? It means, in its very etymology, to bring 
forth, to develop, to bring out what is in the mind. That 
little child of seven years is the father of the man. It is 
only seven years of age j but it is the father of the man 
that will be, in twenty years time. Now, to educate and 
bring out in that child every faculty, every power of his soul 
that he will require for the exercise of his manhood to-morrow; 
that is the true meaning of the word education. In the human 
soul there are two distinct systems of powers, both necessary 
for the man, both acting upon and influencing his life. First 
of all, is the intelligence of a man ; he must receive educa- 
tion. But there is, together with that pure intellect or 
intelligence, there is the heart that must also.be educated; 
there are the affections ; there is the will ; and as knowledge 
is necessary for the intellect, divine grace is necessary for the 
heart and for the will. If you give to your child every form 
of human knowledge, and pour into him ideas in abundance, 
and develop, and bring forth every faculty of his intellect, 
and let nothing be hid from him in the way of knowledge, 
but do not mind his heart, and do not educate his affections; 
how is he to subdue his passions ? Do not speak to him of 
his moral duties, which are to be the sinews of his life, and 
do not attempt at all to strengthen, and teach the will to bow 
to the intellect ; do not speak to him of his duties, nor the 
things that he must practise ; what will you have at the end 
of the education ? An intellectual monster. Fancy a little 
child, five or six years old. Suppose all the growth was 
turned into his head, and the rest of his body remained fixed ; 



300 FATHER, BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



in a few years you would have a monster ; yon would have a 
little child with the head of a giant upon him. Do not attempt 
to purify the affections, and you will develop, indeed, the 
intellect, but the other powers will be in such disproportion 
that you have made an intellectual monster. You have made 
something worse, — you have made a moral monster ! It is 
quite true, knowledge is power. You have given that man 
power by giving him knowledge. But you have not given 
him a single principle to purify and influence, or restrain 
that power, so as to use it properly. Therefore, you have 
made a moral monster ! And, now, that man is all the more 
wicked, and all the more heartless, and all the more remorse- 
less and impure, in precisely the same proportion as you 
succeed in making him cultured and learned. This is the 
issue of this far-famed system of "non-sectarian" education. 

There is another system of education, and it is that of our 
separated brethren in this land, who say that they are quite 
as indignant and as horrified as we are at the idea of an 
utterly godless education : that they do not go in for a god- 
less education* on the contrary, they mean to have God 
everywhere. They are trying now to put Him in the Ameri- 
can Constitution, if they can succeed. They also build their 
schools • and they think that Catholics are the most unreas- 
onable people in the world because, we do not consent to send 
our children to them. They say, — " What objection can you 
have to the Bible ? do you not believe in it as well as we do! n 
They say: — " Cannot you send your children to us on the 
platform of our common Christianity ! There are a great 
many things that we believe together." They say : — u We 
will not ask to teach the children one iota against the 
Catholic worship ; nor ask th§m to participate in any re- 
ligious teaching, only as far as they hold that general truth 
in common with our Protestant children." So, they ask us to 
stand with them 11 on the platform of a common Christianity. 11 
Well, my friends, a great many Catholics are taken by this • 
and think it is very unreasonable, and that it is almost 
bigotry in the Catholic Church to refuse it. Well, let us 
examine what the " platform of our common Christianity n 
allows. What does it mean ? Here is a Protestant school, 
carried out on Protestant principles. Let us suppose that they 
shut up the Protestant Bible, and put it aside, but carry on 
the school on Protestant principles as far as they go in 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



301 



common with the Catholic faith. The Catholic is invited 
to share the school with them. First of all, my friends, how 
far do we go together ? I do not know if there be any Pro- 
testants here ; if there be, I do not wish to say a harsh, dis- 
respectful, or unpleasant word 5 but let us consider how far 
we can go together, — the Protestants and Catholics ! Well, 
they answer, first of all, " We believe in the existence of 
God." Thanks be to God, we do! — the Protestants and 
Catholics are united on that 5 both believe that there is a God 
above us. The next great dogma of Christianity is — " We 
believe in the divinity of Christ." Stop, my friends ! I am 
afraid that we must shake hands and part. I am afraid the 
platform of u our common Christianity " is too narrow. Are 
you aware that it is not necessary for a Protestant to believe 
in the divinity of J esus Christ ? A great many Protestants 
do believe it, most piously and most fervently 5 a great many 
Protestants believe in it as we do. It is most emphatically 
true, however, that there are clergymen of the Church of 
England preaching in Protestant churches throughout Eng- 
land, who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ 5 and it is em- 
phatically true that at this very moment the whole Protestant 
world is trying to get rid of the Athanasian creed, because 
that creed says whoever does not believe in the divinity of 
Jesus Christ cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven. 
Therefore, I must fling back this assertion. I cannot grant 
it. I wish to God I could. No, my friends : if, to-morrow, 
the Anglican clergy who have written against the divinity of 
our Lord, and against the inspiration of the Scriptures, and 
against all forms of religion, in works that are printed, asking 
all the pious Protestants of England to believe in their ideas ; 
— Professors of England, enjoying their yearly salaries 5 
preaching religion (God save the mark !) — if one of these men 
were to appear on trial to-morrow, the Queen and her Coun- 
cil would decide that the divinity of Christ is not a necessary 
doctrine. You go one step beyond the existence of God, and 
the platform is overthrown j and the Catholic and the Pro- 
testant child can no longer stand side by side. Into that 
Protestant school goes a Protestant child, to be taught his 
religion, — to be taught all that his religion requires him to 
learn ; but the Catholic child, before he can go in to receive 
his instruction, must leave behind him, outside the door, his 
belief in the Sacraments, Confession, the Holy Communion, 



302 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



prayers for the dead, the Blessed Virgin, all the Saints, the 
duty of self-examination and of prayer ; in a word, all the 
specific duties, all the principles of the Catholic religion must 
be forgotten and ignored by that Catholic child before he can 
come down low enough to take # a seat on the platform with his 
little Protestant brother. Is it any wonder that we should 
not like to do it? If you should live in a beautiful house, 
well furnished, with every convenience ; and your neighbor 
was living in a damp cellar, where it was cold and dark ; 
and if be asked you to come down and live with him, you 
would answer : u I am much obliged, my dear friend ; but I 
prefer not." If you had a good dinner of roast beef, and 
your neighbor had only a salt herring ; and he requested you 
to eat with him, you would answer : " No ; I cannot do it. 77 
And so when they ask us to come down from the heights of 
our Catholic knowledge 5 to go out of the atmosphere of the 
Sacraments and of the divine presence of Jesus Christ, the 
atmosphere of responsibility to God, realized and asserted in 
Confession and Communion ; and from the intercessory 
prayer of Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ 5 and of the 
Saints ; and ask us to forget our dead ; ask us to give up 
every thing that a Catholic holds dear, that we may have the 
privilege of standing upon the miserable platform of " our 
common Christianity/ 7 with our Protestant brethren ; w r e must 
say that we are much obliged to them, but beg to decline. 
I say it is a meagre meal that they offer us ; but inasmuch 
as we have something a great deal better and more luxurious 
at home, we beg leave to be excused 5 and if they choose to 
come to us, let them step up to our Catholic schools and 
find all that they can find in their Protestant schools, and a 
great deal more; but if they choose not to do it ; we cannot 
help it. We cannot go down to them 5 never ! 

Now, on the principle of Catholic education, the Catholic 
Church says : "I know how to educate ; there is no single 
power in that child 7 s soul, not a single faculty, either intel- 
lectual, moral, or spiritual, that I will not bring forth into 
its full bloom. That child requires knowledge for its intel- 
ligence ) and every form of human knowledge ; so that we 
can compete with every other teacher in the world." Some 
time ago, there w T as a Commission issued by the British 
Government to examine the schools of Ireland. They 
thought to convict our Catholic schools of inefficiency; at 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



303 



least, they thought that we paid so much attention to religion, 
that we did not give the children enough of secular know- 
ledge. Their Commissioners went through the country, and 
solemnly reported, in the House of Commons, that tliey 
found that no schools in Ireland imparted so much secular 
knowledge as the Christian Brothers' and the Nuns 7 . They 
had to say it. The teachers in the other schools declared 
that secular knowledge was their first object, and religion, if 
admitted at all, was only a secondary thing. The Christian 
Brothers said — Religion first, and secular knowledge after- 
wards. The other schools admitted a miserable modicum of 
religion, in order to induce the child to receive secular 
education ; but the Christian Brothers admitted secular know- 
ledge, in order to induce in the child's heart and soul religion. 
And yet, in the rivalry, the Catholic Church was so com- 
pletely ahead, — even in imparting secular knowledge, — that 
our enemies on this question of secular education were 
obliged to acknowledge that there is nothing at all in Ireland 
like the schools of the Christian Brothers and of the Nuns. 

The Church says, " Let no fountain of human knowledge 
be denied. Let every light which human knowledge and 
science can bring be thrown upon that intelligence. I am 
not afraid of it. I desire that the child may have intelli- 
gence. The more I can flood that intellect with the light, 
the surer guarantee I have that that man will be a true and 
fervent, because an eminently intellectual, Catholic." But, 
the Church adds : u That child's heart requires to be instruct- 
ed • that child's affections require to be trained • that child's 
passions must be purified; that child must be made familiar 
with the things and joys of Heaven before he becomes famil- 
iar with the sights and jo} r s of earth. " Therefore she takes 
the child before he comes to the age of reason, and makes 
Lis young eyes to be captivated with the images and sweet- 
ness and spiritual beauties of Jesus and Mary ,* and draws 
and makes that young heart full of love for the Redeemer 
before the appeal of passion excites the earthly love, before 
the u mystery of iniquity" that is in the world is revealed 
to his reason. Therefore, she draw T s that child and familiar- 
izes his mind with the words of faith, and the language of 
Heaven and prayer,* intermingling with his amusements and 
studies an element of devotion and of religion. Because 
she recognizes, that, as much as .the world stands in need of 



304 



FA TREE B USEE'S DISCO UZSUS. 



intellectual men, far, far more does it stand in need of honest 
men, pure men, high-minded men. Because she knows that, 
if knowledge is not intermingled with grace, knowledge 
without grace becomes a curse, instead of a blessing. It was 
the curse of the world that it was so intellectual in the era 
of Augustus ; because, says St. Paul, " They refused to 
admit God into their knowledge ; and God gave them up to 
a reprobate sense." What follows ? Every faculty of the 
mind, of the affections, as well as of the intellect, is brought 
out in that Catholic child 5 so that the whole soul is devel- 
oped, and has fair play, and is brought forth under the 
system of Catholic Education. 

Which of these three systems, think you, is the most neces- 
sary for the world? Ah ! my friends, I was asked to please 
the public as well as my co-religionists. I wish to God I 
could please the public with such a doctrine as this, and 
propound the truth and say to the public ; to every father and 
mother in America, Protestant and Catholic : — When God 
gave you that child, it was only that, by your action and by 
your education, that child might grow into the resemblance 
of Jesus Christ ; it was only that Christ, the Son of God, 
might be multiplied in men that men are bom at all. What 
do you imagine we come into this world for ? To become 
rich ¥ It is hard for the rich man to be saved. To become 
great and wondrous before the world's eyes J ? Oh, this great- 
ness is like the mist which the rays of the morning sun dispel. 
No. God made us for eternity 5 and our eternity depends 
upon our bringing out in our hearts, in our affections, in the 
interest and harmony of our lives, in the simple faith and 
belief of our souls, in every highest virtue, — bringing out 
within us, and clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

And, now, I ask again, which of the three systems of edu- 
cation is likely to do this ? Would to God that I could 
please the public of America when I preach Jesus Christ and 
Him alone. Now, sorely, it is to our schools we can apply 
the words of Him who said, u Suffer little children to come 
unto Me." And if the public are not pleased when they hear 
His name, when they hear how they are to implant Him in 
their children's lives, — all I can do is to pray for the public, 
that the Almighty God may open their blind eyes and let in 
the pure light into their darkened intellects. 

1 know, my friends, that it is hard upon the Catholics of 



CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 



305 



this country to be constantly called upon to build one set of 
schools for Catholics, and to be obliged as citizens to bnild 
another set and famish them for persons wealthier or better 
off than themselves. It is a hardship • and I do not think 
the State— with great respect to the authorities — ought to 
call upon you to do it. But still, great as the hardship is, 
w r hen you consider that your children receive in the Catholic, 
schools what they cannot receive elsewhere ) when you con- 
sider that your own hopes for Heaven are bound up in these 
children, and that the education they need they can receive 
only in the Catholic school, and nowhere else^ you must put 
up with this disadvantage, and make this sacrifice, among 
many others, to gain Heaven. For it is written : u The 
kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent shall 
bear it away." 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



[ A Sermon delivered by Very Bev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in St. Michael's 
Church, New York, June 2, 1872.] 

Deahly Beloyed Bretheen : In this wonderful age of 
ours, there is nothing- that creates in the thinking mind so 
much astonishment and wonder as the fact that the Catholic 
Church stands before the world in all the grandeur of her 
truthfulness, and that the intellect of this age of ours seems 
incapable of apprehending her claims, or of acknowledging her 
grandeur. Men in every walk of life are in pursuit of the true 
and the beautiful. The poet seeks it in his verse, the philo- 
sopher in bis speculations, the statesman in his legislation, the 
artist iu the exhibition of his ait. And, while all men pro- 
fess thus to pursue the true and the beautiful, they wilfully 
shut their eyes against that which is the truest and most beau- 
tiful of all things upon the earth, — the Holy Catholic Church 
of Jesus Christ. I do not know whether there be any Pro- 
testants among you here to-day ; I believe there are not. 
But whether they be here, or whether they be absent, I weep, 
in my heart and soul, over their blindness and their folly, — 
that they cannot recognize the only religion which is logical, 
because it is true ; — the only Church which can afford to 
stand before the whole world, and bear the shock of every 
mind and the criticism of every intellect, because she comes 
from God ? 

Now amid the many features of divine beauty and grandeur 
and harmony that the Almighty God has set upon the face 
of the Catholic Church, the first and the greatest of her 
mysteries, — the greatest of her beauties, both intellectual 
and spiritual, — is the awful presence of Jesus Christ, who 
makes Himself, really and truly, here, an abiding and 
present God in the Blessed Eucharist. I have chosen this 
presence as the subject and theme of my observations to you 
to-day, because we are yet celebrating (within the octave) 
the festival of Corpus Christi. We are yet in spirit, with 



THE BLESSED EUCRABIST. 



307 



our holy mother, the Church, at the foot of the altar, ador- 
ing, in an especial manner, Him who is here present at all 
times; and rejoicing, with a peculiar joy, for that grace, 
surpassing all graces, which the Almighty God has given to 
His Church, in the abiding presence of Jesus Christ among 
us. 

Most of you, I dare say, know that what I propose to you 
to-day is to consider that presence as the fulfilment of the 
designs of God, and the fulfilment of all the w T ants of man. 
If I can show you what these designs are, and what these 
wants are, and if I can sufficiently indicate to you that they 
are fulfilled only in the Blessed Eucharist — then, my brethren, 
I conclude without the slightest hesitation, that, in no form of 
religion, — in no Church, — can the designs of God and the 
wants of man meet their fulfilment, save in that one Church, 
in that one holy religion, in which Christ is substantiated, 
under the form of bread and wine in the Blessed Eucharist. 
In order to do this, I have to ask you to reflect with me what 
are the designs of God upon man. 

There are three remarkable and magnificent epochs that 
mark the action of the Almighty God upon His creature, man. 
The first of these w T as the moment of creation, when God 
made man. The second was the time of redemption, when 
God, becoming incarnate, offered Himself as the victim for 
man. The third epoch was the institution of the Blessed 
Sacrament, when God left himself to be the food of His chil- 
dren, and to be made one with them by the highest and the 
most intimate communion of a present God, through all ages. 
To each of these three epochs I shall invite your attention 
when I attempt to explain to you the designs of God. 

In the first of these, — that is to say in the act of creation, 
— we find God stamping His image on man, in order that in 
man He might see the likeness of Himself. In the second 
of these epochs, — that of redemption, we find God assuming 
and absorbing our human nature into Himself 5 so that God 
and man became one and the same divine person, in order 
that God might see no longer the image of Himself in man ; 
but that He might see Himself actually and truly in man. 
In the third of these epochs, the institution of the Blessed 
Sacrament, we have God coming home to every individual; 
entering into our hearts and souls ; bringing all that He is 
and all that He has to each and every man among us ; that 



303 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the Man-God, in whom God and man were united, might be 
visible before the Father's eyes in the heart, in the soul, in 
the life of every man. The Creation, therefore, was a design 
of mercy, which produced only an image or likeness ; the 
Redemption was a higher design of mercy, which produced 
God in man. The Holy Communion was the consummation 
of these designs of mercy, which propagated that God until 
He was made present in every man. Behold the designs of 
God ! First, then, is the creation. God, in the beginning, 
created all things, heaven and earth. He made the earth, 
with all its beauty. He made the firmament of heaven, with 
all its wonderful harmony and order. At His creative word, 
— "fiat" — let it be, — light sprang forth from darkness ; order 
came forth in silent beauty from chaos and confusion; every 
star in heaven took its place in the firmament of God ; the 
sun blazed forth in his noonday light and splendor 5 the moon 
took up her .reflected light, and illumined with her silver rays 
the shades of night. All the spheres of God began their re- 
volution through space, to that exquisite harmony of the 
Divine commandment and the Divine law. And they aU 
surrounded that spot of creation which was earth, and des- 
tined to be the habitation of man. This earth the Almighty 
God clothed with its manifold forms of beauty. He gave to 
it the revolving seasons — the freshness of the Spring — the 
deep shade of the Summer, — the fruitful overteeming of the 
Autumn ; — and every season took up its strain of joy, abun- 
dance and delight, at the command of God. But all these 
things, every form of life that existed, existed by the one 
word, "fiat" of the Almighty God. But now, when the 
heavens above are prepared ; now, when the spheres are all 
in their places ; now, when every creature of God has receiv- 
ed its commission, its faculty of life, light, splendor, and 
beauty; — the whole earth, heaven, and the firmament are 
made : yet no image of God is there ; for there is no intelli- 
gence there ; and God is knowledge : there is no power of love 
there ; and God is the highest and most intimate love. There 
is no freedom there, but only the necessity of nature's law 
and instinct. The whole world, — in all its beauty, in all its 
harmony, — still wants its soul : for that soul, wherever it is to 
be, must be something like to God. Finally, when all things 
were prepared, God took of the slime of the earth, and made 
and fashioned with His hands a new creature, — a creature 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



309 



that was to rise and to uplift his eyes and behold the sun ; a 
creature whose every form of material existence was to remain 
perfectly distinct from all other forms of creation. Into this 
creature's face the Almighty God breathed His own image 
and likeness, in an imperishable spirit, an immortal soul. 
Before He made this soul, the mirror of Himself, He took 
thought with Himself, and said no longer — "Let it be ! 77 but 
— counselling with His owm Divine wisdom, He said : " Let 
Us make man to Our owm image and likeness. 77 And unto 
His own image and likeness, therefore, He made him, for 
He breathed upon him the inspiration of spiritual life, — a 
living soul into the inanimate <5lay ; — and upon that soul He 
stamped His own divine image. He gave to that soul the 
light of an intelligence capable of comprehending the power 
of love, capable of serving Him and loving Him. He 
gave to that soul the faculty of freedom, that by no necessary 
law, by no iron instinct, was this new creature to act ; but 
with judgment, and with thought, and with intellectual in- 
quiry. He was to act freely, and every action of his life was 
to flow from the fountain of unfettered freedom, like the 
actions of the Almighty God Himself, whose very essence is 
eternal freedom. 

Thus w T as man created. Behold the image of God stamped 
upon him ! Oh, how grand, how magnificent was this crea- 
ture ! The theory has been mooted in our day : — " Was it 
worth God's while to create the sun, moon, and stars, and un- 
told firmaments which no eye of man has yet discovered • — 
those stars far away exceeding our earth in their magnitude, 
in their splendor, in their attractive power and beauty ; — was 
it worth God's while," — the astronomer asks, — u for the sake 
of giving light to one of the smallest of the planets, to create 
so many others to revolve around her in space ? 99 Yes, 
I answer, it was worth God's while ; for one man, if He 
had created .but one ; — it was worth His while to create 
all these material beauties ; because man alone, — that one 
man, — would reflect in his soul the image of God — the 
uncreated and spiritual loveliness of his Maker. How 
grand was this first man when he arose from the green 
mound out of which the Lord created him ! w T hen he opened 
his eyes and beheld before him, shrouded in some dazzling 
form of material beauty, the presence of God ! He opened 
his eyes ) and seeing this figure of light and transparency 



310 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



before him, hearing from his lips the harmony of his 
Creator's voice, he knelt in adoration. He alone, of all the 
creatures in the world, was able to appreciate the infinite 
beauty of the Maker ; and springing to that Maker, with all 
the energy of his spirit, he bowed down before Him, and 
offered the sacrifice of intellectual praise. He alone, of all 
the creatures of God, was able to appreciate the infinite 
eternity of His existence ; His omnipotence ; His infinite 
goodness, grandeur, and beauty. He alone, of all God's 
creatures, was capable of appreciating with soul ; — that, out 
of the appreciation of his mind, his heart was moved to love, 
and he strained towards his God with every higher aspiration 
and affection of his spirit. He alone, of all the creatures of 
God, was able to say, out of the resources of a free and un- 
shackled will : "I will love Thee ! I will serve Thee, 
God! for Thou alone art worthy of all love and all service 
for all time ! " So, freely and deliberately weighing the 
excellencies of God against all created beauty,* calculating 
with the power of his intelligence the claims of God upon 
him, — he acknowledged these claims; he acknowledged in 
his intellect the infinite beauty of God j because of his intel- 
tectual appreciation, he decided freely to serve God in his 
life. That free decision from the intellect was a godlike act, 
of which no other creature upon this earth was capable. 
Therefore, the Almighty God appealed to that act as the test 
and proof of man. 

Thus we see in the beginning that Almighty God stamped 
His image upon His people. And in this He showed the 
design of His creation ; — the greatness of His mercy and of 
His love. He had prepared all things for man. He had 
made all things for him. All things pointed to him ; all 
nature, newly created in all its beauty, still cried out for that 
crowning beauty, the beauty of intelligence, the beauty of the 
power of love, the grandeur of freedom. And man was cre- 
ated as the very apex, the very climax of God's creation ; 
the crown and the perfection of all. Behold the mercy of 
God ! God might have left this world in all its material, yet 
unintellectual beauty. He might have left all His creatures 
to enjoy the life that He gave them, and to fulfil the limited 
and necessary sphere of their duties, — and yet never have 
sent intelligence and love and freedom upon them. But no; 
God wished to behold Himself in His creation. He wished 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



311 



to be able to look down from Heaven and see His image in 
His creation. God wished that all nature should hold up 
the mirror of its resemblance to Him in man. God's design 
was that, wherever the child of man existed, there He, 
looking down, should behold His own image in the depths 
of that pure intelligence, in the depths of those pure affec- 
tions, in that unshackled, magnificent, imperial freedom of 
man's will. 

This was the first design. Far greater was the second 
design of God's mercy. God knew and foreknew, from all 
eternity, that man, by the abuse of his free will, would turn 
against his God. The Almighty God knew and foreknew, as 
if it were present before His eyes, — for there is no past, no 
future to the eyes of God ; all things are present to Him • — 
He knew and foreknew that, in the day when He placed 
Himself and His own divine perfection and His own claims 
on one side, and the devil made the appeal to the passions 
and pride of man on the other side, — He knew that His free 
creature would decide against Him, — would abandon Him, — 
tell Him to begone, and take all His gifts with Him, and 
would clutch the animal and base gratifications of a sensual 
pride. God knew this. He knew that, in that act, man was 
destined to clond his clear intelligence, so that it would no 
longer reflect the image of God ; — that man was destined, in 
that act, to pollute his pure affections, so that they should no 
longer reflect the image of God in love. God foresaw and 
foreknew that man was destined, in that act of rebellion, to 
fetter and enslave his free will, and to make it no longer a 
servant and minister of his intelligence, but of his passions 
and of his desires. In a word, God saw His own image 
broken and spoiled in man by the sin of Adam. 

Then, my dearly beloved, in these eternal designs of love, 
God said, in His own decrees, from all eternity : u My image 
is gone ; My likeness is shattered 5 My spirit is no longer 
among them j and I must provide a remedy greater than the 
evil. I will send — in the second plan of My mercy and the 
design of My love, — I will make no longer a renewed image 
in man • I will not restore what they have broken and de- 
stroyed 5 but I will send My Eternal Son. He, the reality, 
whom no evil can touch, whom no temptation can conquer, — 
I will put 'Him into man ; and I shall behold, no longer the 
fallen man, but I shall behold, in the redeemed man, Myself 



312 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



restored in the person of J esus Christ." my beloved 
brethren ! does not the infinite mercy, — the all-extending, 
all-grasping love of God, — come in here ? He might, in His 
designs of mercy, have restored His broken image in man. 
He might have given man the power of repentance. He 
might, in the largeness of His mercy, wipe away sin, undo 
that most fatal work, and give back to man, in the unclouded 
intelligence, and in the pure heart, and in the free will, all 
that man had lost of the divine image by sin. He might 
have done this without at all descending Himself; without 
at all coining down from the throne of His greatness and 
uncreated majesty and glory. But no ! God resolves to do 
more for the reparation of man than man had ever done in the 
ruin of himself by sin. God resolves to send His only begot- 
ten Son, who, incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin 
Mary, was made man. The Lord Jesus Christ is born of 
the Virgin Mary: an infant wails upon His Mother's bosom: 
an Infinite God, looking down from heaven, beholds not only 
His own image in man, but beholds Himself in Him, His 
only begotten, coequal, and consubstantial Son. Therefore, 
He is no longer the image, but the Man-God. He is no 
longer the likeness of God, but the reality of God, — accord- 
ing to the Scriptures of old : " I have said ye are gods, and 
all of you the sons of the Most High." 

God made us to be His servants. When man refused to 
be a servant, God, in His mercy, lifted him up, and made 
him a son. Instead of taking the children of men and bind- 
ing us together, as a bundle of faggots, and flinging us into 
hell, and in His greatness and glory forgetting us all ; — 
instead of doing this, when God saw that we were fallen, and 
that not even His image remained in man, in the destruction 
of grace, and in the partial destruction of the perfection of 
his nature, — He sent His only begotten Son ; so that the 
creature, instead of being punished by eternal ruin and ban- 
ishment, is raised by redemption, and made a son of God. 
" To those who received Him, He gave the power to become 
the sons of God." Can you comprehend this mercy? Do 
you ever reflect upon it? I sinned in Adam. Sinning thus 
in Adam, I deserved to be cast away from God, and never to 
see His face again. I sinned in Adam. Sinning thus, I lost 
all that God gave me of grace, and a great deal that He gave 
me of nature. Instead of flinging me aside, Almighty God 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



313 



comes down from Heaven, becomes my brother, and says : — 
" Brother, all that I am in Heaven, — the Son of God, — I am 
willing to make you by adoption. My Father is willing to 
take you in as My younger brother. My father is willing to 
acknowledge that all I am by nature you are by the grace of 
adoption." So, in the work of redemption, — in the second 
design of God, — we rise to the grandeur and dignity of a 
more sublime position than in Adam. We become the 
younger brethren of God Himself. We become members of 
the household and of the family of Jesus Christ. 

But, you will say to me, what connection has this with 
the Blessed Eucharist? You engage to show us that the 
designs of God were fulfilled in the Real Presence. You 
speak of the design of creation, — of the design of redemption 5 
— but what have these two designs to do with the institution 
of the Blessed Sacrament? the transubstantiation of Christ 
upon the altar f It has this : The first design of creation 
was intended by the Almighty God to be, that man, preserv- 
ing the graces in which he was created, — preserving the image 
in which he was made, — should remain faithful to God, free 
from sin, the conqueror of his own passions, and of every 
temptation that could come upon him ; and so, living in the 
light of purity, in the fervor of love, in the strength of free- 
dom, that he might journey on through happiness and peace 
upon the earth, until he attained to the fulfilment of his per- 
fection, and laid hold of the eternal crown of glory. This 
was the design of God. This was marred by sin. Man sinned ; 
and the design of God could no longer be fulfilled. He 
let evil into his soul ; he destroyed the integrity of his nature; 
he violated the virginity of his soul ; he came to the know- 
ledge of evil ; and, with the knowledge, he came to the love 
of evil. Understand this well ; it is a deep thought • it enters 
into the designs of God. Every individual man born into 
this world was born a sinner. Defilement was upon him : 
the seeds of future evil were in him. All that was necessary 
for him was to let that infant grow into a youth ,• and, of 
necessity, he became an individual sinner, because the root 
of evil was in him. The seeds of corruption were implanted 
in him; his blood was impure and defiled. All that was 
necessary was the dawn of reason and the awakening of pas- 
sion. The former made him an infidel ; the latter made him 
a debauched, licentious, and impure sinner. This was the 

14 



314 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



consequence of Adam's sin. Therefore, my dearly beloved, 
it was not only our nature that sinned in Adam, but every 
individual of our nature sinned in him, save and except the 
Blessed Virgin Mary. Put her aside, and at once the whole 
race of human beings are individual sinners in Adam : — not 
actual sinners, but individually tainted by sin. This, to be 
sure, is one of those things that people overlook. They do not 
understand that the curse of Adam came down to each and 
every one of us, — this sin of Adam, which was written upon 
our foreheads in characters of defilement. When it was a 
question of remedying that evil, it was necessary that the 
Almighty God should exercise His mercy individually upon 
each and every one of us. 

Two things, therefore, were tainted by the sin of Adam, — 
the nature and the individual. The nature, common to all, 
was tainted ; man's nature was broken • man's nature was 
corrupted 5 that which was common to us all, — the universal 
nature, — was defiled and injured by Adam's sin ; and in that 
defilement and injury every single, individual child of Adam 
participated 5 so that every one of us, personally and indivi- 
dually, was defiled in our first parent. Now, it follows from 
this, that when the Almighty God, in His second design of 
mercy, — namely the Redemption, — when He resolved to undo 
all the evil that Adam had done, — when He resolved to bind 
up and heal the wound that Adam had made, — it was neces- 
sary that God should take thought for the nature that was 
corrupted, and for the individuals that had fallen in Adam. 
If He had taken thought only for the nature, it would not be 
sufficient for us 5 for our nature may be restored, and, unless 
that restoring power come home to us, we ourselves may 
remain in our misery. God provided a remedy for the nature, 
- — the universal nature, — in the Incarnation. He sent His 
own Divine Son, who took our nature — our human nature, — 
who took a human body, a human soul, human feelings, a 
human heart, a human mind, human intellect, human w r ill ; 
— every thing that belonged to the nature of man, Christ, our 
Lord, took 5 but He did not take the individual. Mark it 
well ! You Catholics ought to know the theology of your 
divine religion ; — mark it well. Christ, our Lord, took every 
thing that was in man except the individuality, — personality. 
That He did not touch. He took our nature, and absorbed 
it into His ow 7 n person • but He never took a human person. 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



315 



No man could say of our Lord, pointing to Him : " He is an 
individual man." No ! He was a divine man. When He 
spoke, His words were those, not of man, but of God 5 because 
the person whu spoke was divine. If He suffered, it was the 
suffering, not of man, but of God ) because the person was 
divine. This was necessary; because, unless the Divine 
Person, — that is to say, God, — consented to suffer and to die, 
the sin of man's nature could never have been wiped out. 
When, therefore, the Eternal Father, in His love for mankind, 
sent His co-Eternal Son upon the earth, He, in that act of 
Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, pro- 
vided a remedy for the evil of Adam's nature — for the human 
nature that was spoiled. Again I assert that Christ, our Lord, 
never took the human personality ; that He left the indivi- 
duality of every man to himself ; that He did not take the 
individuality or personality of the man 5 but only the nature. 
In order to remedy the nature it was necessary, in the designs 
of God, that God should unite Himself with that nature. 
Mark this, — that God should unite Himself with man's 
nature was necessary in the designs of God, in order that 
man's nature might ~be purified and restored. Was this 
necessary to the designs of God? Absolutely necessary. 
The Virgin Mary, — on that day in Nazareth, when Gabriel 
stood before her, — represented the human race. She repre- 
sented human nature, in her alone unfallen j and to that all- 
pure and unfallen one the Angel said: "Mary, a child 
shall be born to you, and He shall be called the Son of the 
Most High God/' Mary paused ; and until Mary, of her 
own free will, answered : " Behold the handmaid of God ; be 
this thing done unto me according to thy word ; " until 
Mary said that word, the mystery of the' Incarnation was 
suspended, and man's redemption was left hanging upon the 
will of one woman. But, when Mary said the word, human 
nature, distinct from man's personality, was assumed by God. 
If Almighty God had not consented to unite Himself with 
our nature, that nature never could have been redeemed. 
But, thus we see that one great portion of Adam's evil was 
remedied in the Incarnation, — namely,, that our nature was 
purified. 

But what about the individual? It is not so much 
the purification of my nature — our common nature — that 
concerns me. I am an individual man, — the son of my 



316 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



mother;- I am a human person: Christ, our Lord, had 
nothing to say to the human person in the Incarnation. 
How then am I, — a human person, — to enter into the graces 
and purity of God ? Ob, behold, my brethren, how the two 
previous designs culminate ! Christ, our Lord, multiplied 
Himself. Christ, our Lord, changed bread and wine into His 
own divine body and blood. Christ, our Lord, made Him- 
self present in the form of man's food. That food is broken. 
Every child that cries for that divine bread shall have it. 
That human individual, that personal creature is united to 
God ; and the individual is sanctified as the nature was sanc- 
tified. The nature could not be redeemed or sanctified except 
by union with God : the individual is sanctified by the same 
means — union with God in the blessed Eucharist. Thus, 
then, we see how the design of creation, — spoiled in Adam, 
— spoiled not only in the nature, but in the individual, — is 
made perfect in Jesus Christ, as far as regards the mystery 
of the Incarnation. Well, therefore, He says : " Unless you 
eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you 
shall not have life in you." He was speaking to the indi- 
vidual. He did not say, "You cannot have life in your 
nature." He put life into human nature by taking that 
nature upon Himself. There was life there already, — life 
eternal, — in the person of Jesus Christ. But He was speak- 
ing to individuals, and He said to them : " Unless you 
bring Me home unto yourselves, individually, you cannot 
have life in you ; for I am the life life indeed ; — life eternal, 
that came down from heaven ; and unless you eat of My 
flesh and drink of My blood, you cannot have life in you. 
But, if you do this, — if you eat of this flesh and drink of this 
blood, then you shall abide in Me and I in you." 

Behold, therefore, dearly beloved, how the mystery of the 
Incarnation, affecting, as it did, our nature, is brought home 
in its wonderful expansion to each human person in the 
Holy Communion. Oh, how sad and terrible — how dreadful 
is the thought that the devil has succeeded the second time 
in destroying us ! First, he destroyed our nature in Adam 5 
now he succeeds in destroying the person in heresy, in 
Protestantism. He came and whispered, — "Christ is not in 
the Blessed Eucharist ! He is not there ! n He cut off — by 
that denial of Protestantism of the Real Presence — the last 
great design of God, in which the creation and the redemption 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



317 



were to be made perfect in their remedy and brought home to 
every individual man. Suppose, my children, that some 
dreadful epdemic came in among you, — some fearful irruption 
of Asiatic cholera : — that a sailor landed from a ship in New 
York with the cholera, and from him it spread through the 
city ; — we would look upon that man as the origin of the 
evil, because he brought it, as Adam brought evil and sin 
and misery intothis w T orld. Then suppose some great physi- 
cian arose, — some mighty sage, — and said he held in Lis 
hand the great remedy ) said to the whole city of New York 
— " Behold, I am come from a foreign land, where we have 
never known disease or complaint, with this sovereign remedy 
in my band : no one that partakes of this shall ever suffer 
from this hideous disease." Would we not take the remedy 
out of his hands ? Would we not eat of that medicine, which 
is life out of death to us ? So, Christ, Our Lord, represents 
that great physician, coming with a sovereign remedy in His 
hand, and with that remedy we w^ill remedy our nature in His 
Incarnation. Then He says : u I am come from a foreign 
land that has never known disease or death. I came from 
Heaven. I bring the remedy against Adam's corruption and 
Adam's sin. I am the head of your nature : now I am one 
wuth you. So I say to you all : whoever wishes to escape 
this dire disease, must partake of this miraculous food. It is 
tbe self-same food brought down to elevate your nature, that 
is, My own self." What w^ould you think of a man that said, 
" Do not go near Him ! do not take that food from His 
hand ! do not believe in Him w ?— -thus clinging to disease 
and death. Why, you see clearly, my brethren, as we 
Catholics believe and know that the Almighty God has 
sufficiently revealed in His designs that it is absolutely 
necessary for every man who wishes to be saved and sanctified, 
to come into personal contact with our Lord J esus Christ, by 
opening his mouth and receiving the Body and Blood, Soul 
and Divinity, of the Lord in the Holy Communion. 

Such is the design of God. Now it remains for us to see 
whether that, which so completely fulfils the designs of God, 
fulfils also the wants of man. my brethren ! before we 
leave these designs, let us consider how magnificent they 
are ! The Father loved man. First, in the beginning, when 
as God He loved His own image. What great love have you 
for the likeness of your own face in the looking-glass ? Every 



318 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



feature is there, every expression is there, but it is only an 
image. What love would a man have for his own portrait, 
even though designed b}^ a master hand ? Every tint and 
beauty of color may be there, every delicate trait most true 
to nature, and to the person represented. But, after all, it is 
only a piece of canvas, overlaid with a little paint and skil- 
fully arranged ; only an image. God, in the second design, 
beholds in man His own adorable and beloved Son: the Eter- 
nal Word, that from all eternity rested in the Father's bosom ; 
the very figure of His substance, and the splendor of His glory, 
equal to Him in all things, knowing and loving Him, and 
loved by Him with a substantial love, which is the third per- 
son of the Blessed Trinity — the Holy Ghost. He came down 
from Heaven, became man ; and the Eternal Father no longer 
looks upon man, as a man would look upon his own picture, 
as an imao-e. He looks down, as a loving father of a familv 
looks down on the face of his eldest son. How different the 
love of a man is for his own image, reflected in a mirror, or 
perpetuated by the painter's hand, — cold, lifeless, inanimate, — 
and his own image seen in every feature, in every lineament 
of his child ; the child of his own manly love ; the child grow- 
ing and displaying every perfection, and returning the love 
of the father; the child surrounding all the graces of ordinary 
infancy with a peculiar grace and shining beauty in his' fath- 
er's eyes, until he draws every chord of that father's heart, 
entwining around him so closely, that, if the child should die 
or disappear, the father would seem to have lost every pur- 
pose of life, and be ready to lie down and die upon the grave 
of his first-born. So the Almighty and Eternal God, looking 
down in the second design of His redemption, beheld one who 
was not a human person, but the second Divine Person of the 
adorable Trinity; not merely human, though truly human; 
but man and God united in one. And that union consum- 
mated, not in man, not in the human person, but in God 
the Divine person: and just as that image of Jesus Christ 
so captivated the Father's love, that tw T ice He rent the Heav- 
ens miraculously, and sent down His voice,- — once when 
Christ was standing in the Jordan ; and another time when 
He was transfigured on Mount Tabor ; — on both occasions, 
the miracluous voice — as if God could no longer contain His 
love — saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased. Hear ye Him:" that image so captivated the 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



319 



Father's love, that He wished to reproduce it in all the chil- 
dren of men, — that He wished to multiply it. It was so f$ir, 
so beautiful, that the Eternal Father, whenever He cast His 
eyes upon the earth, wished to see it multiplied in every man 
personally. He wished to see every man another Jesus 
Christ, His Son. He wished to be able, to say to you and 
to me : — u He is also my beloved child, in whom I am well 
pleased." In order to do this, His Divine Son multiplied 
Himself, and remained upon earth, — broke, as it were, His 
existence, His perfect existence, His inseparable existence ) — - 
broke it ; separated it into a thousand forms ; became present 
upon your lips and mine, and on those of the little child that 
comes up to this altar : so that the mere image of God receives 
the Holy Communion, goes down from this altar ; and the 
Father of Heaven looks down and says: — " Behold, My 
beloved Son, Jesus Christ, is there ! 77 The Angel Guar- 
dian that conducts the child to the altar, prostrates himself 
before the figure of that child as he returns from the altar 
again. For now, he is, indeed, a human person , but God is 
in him. 

And this is the supreme w.ant of man. That which is the 
fulfilment of the Divine design is the supreme want. What 
is that which we want ? Christian believers as you are, tell 
me your great want in this world. Every man has bis own 
wants and hopes, and desires and purposes of life. AYhat is it 
that you want ? What do we aspire to ? Tell me. One man 
says : — u Well,. I hope to become a wealthy man • to be the 
founder of a grand family in the land. 77 Do your hopes 
stop here, my friend ? The grand family you found will fol- 
low you to the grave. Have you brought no hopes with you? 
Another says : — u I hope to obtain some distinguished posi- 
tion, the first position in the land. 77 I suppose you may be 
one day President of the United States. But the day will come 
when they will carry the President, and consign him, also, to 
his grave. What is your hope and mine ? friends and 
brethren, is it not my hope to bring out in my soul, here by 
grace, and hereafter by glory, the image of the Eternal God, 
which is stamped upon it? My hope is to live in the light 
of divine grace, to walk in the beaming of divine purity. 
My hope is to keep my will unfettered, that freely I may 
devote it to the service of my God. My hope is to rise by 
divine help into all the majesty of Christian holiness. And 



320 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



the majesty and the glory of the Christian man lie here, — that 
Je^us Christ, the Son of God, may be brought out in him. No 
great one in Heaven, but the greatest of all — the Eternal God 
and man, Jesus Christ. He stamped the God upon our 
humanity in the Incarnation. He stamped the God upon oui 
nature ; and that stamp He left on our nature , and we must 
stamp it upon our person. And the true want of every Chris- 
tian man, and the true purpose of his existence, is to bring 
out the Christ that is in him, and to become a son of God. 
Nothing short of this. If we fail in this, then all our hopes 
perish from us. If we fail in this, it is in vain that we have 
achieved every other purpose of life ; it is in vain that we 
have written our names, even in letters of gold, upon the 
foremost page of our country's history 5 it is in vain that we 
have left a name to other times, built up upon the solid foun- 
dation of every higher quality that is enshrined in the temple 
of man's immortality. It is in vain that we have accumu- 
lated all the world's riches. If we fail to bring out the 
Christ that is in us, then we are, of all men, the most misera- 
ble ) because we have failed in realizing the only true hope, 
the only true want of the Christian man. What follows ? 
Says the Saviour — " If a man gain the whole world,," — the 
world's places, the world's honors — " and lose his own soul, 
what profiteth it him ? " And the loss, of his soul is effected 
in man by neglecting' to bring Christ out in him. For it is 
written — our vocation, our calling, our justification — that is 
to say, our sanctification — our ultimate glory, — all depend 
upon one thing, — making ourselves, by divine grace, con- 
formable to Jesus Christ. For God foreknew and predestined 
that we might be made like to the image of J esus Christ : 
and "those whom He called He justified, and those whom 
He justified He glorified." 

This being the w T ant of man, how is it to be supplied? 
Can man alone supply the want ? No ! There are three 
enemies that stand before us. Powerful and dreadful is 
each and every one of these enemies, saying to us — " I am 
come to destroy the Christ in you!" The first of these is 
the world — the world with its evil maxims 5 the world with 
its pride, with its avarice, with all its false ideas j the world 
with its newspapers and periodicals ; with all its theories 
not stopping short of theorizing upon God ; — the world that 
tells us its influence is elevating, although the Almighty 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



321 



God tells us it is not ; and that mocking buffoonery of reli- 
gion, dissolving the matrimonial tie, the most sacred of all 
bonds ; the world, flooded with impurity, evil examples, and 
its evil maxims and principles, — comes before the Christian 
man hoping to be made like unto Jesus Christ, and says : u I 
tell you you must not be a Christian. I will surround you 
by my influence ; I will beset you with evil examples ; I 
will pollute the moral atmosphere you live in with my false 
principles, and work the Christ out of you ! 99 Will any man 
be able, of his own power, to resist this influence and conquer 
it ? Ah ! it has captivated and enslaved the best intellects 
of our age ; the grandest minds of our age have been utterly 
debauched by worldly principles ; for we know the very best 
intelligences of our age, at this moment, are writing the sheer- 
est nonsense about religion ; — these men who write articles in 
the newspapers with so much wisdom upon commercial sub- 
jects 5 — these men whose wits are keen as a razor in philoso- 
phical speculation • — quick to perceive a flaw in an argument; 
— when these men come to write about religion, they are 
fools,: — as you will see in looking at any of the leading 
newspapers of New York to-morrow morning, — what this 
man and that man said in the various conventicles and 
churches to-day : — you will find a Quaker standing up,— a 
holy man, — humming, hawing, and rocking himself ; lifting 
up his languid eyes to Heaven ; and then, after a long pause, 
you will find him denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ and 
declaring that He was not the Son of God at all ! This 
happened last Sunday in New York. You will find another 
man corning out with the theory and the belief that man 
never fell ) and therefore does not need any remedy. This 
— in the face of the moral and social corruption and guiltiness 
of our age, that is revolting to the eyes of God and man ! 

Thus it is the world blinds the very best intellects, and 
the shrewdest and strongest minds. And do you expect to 
resist this ? No ! You cannot do it. You must say with 
St. Paul : " Of myself I can do nothing ; but I can do all 
things in Him." In Him we can do all things. He is here 
for you and me. 

The next great enemy is the flesh; — the domestic enemy. 
The blood in our veins, the passions and the senses of our 
bodies rise up against us to enslave us, and say : u You must 
not become like to the Son of God ! The Son of God was 



322 FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



infinite purity. I will not allow you to possess your soul in 
purity ! I will not allow you to develop the spiritual exis- 
tence that is within you ; you must follow the dictates of your 
passions 5 you must become a drunkard, a licentious and im- 
pure man ! I will fill that eye with the flaming, lustful 
glances of desire ; I will make the absorbing desire for every 
thing base throb in your veins, till it becomes a necessity of 
your nature." Thus says the flesh. Can we conquer it ? 
The greatest and the grandest of earth's sons have been the 
meanest slaves to their own passions. The grandest names 
upon the rolls of history, — the greatest heroes, — the greatest 
philosophers — have all attached to them — when we turn the 
leaves of history and look at their lives — the foul stain of 
their impurity, running through their lives and covering all 
their existence with the vilest of all earthly passions. No ! 
We cannot conquer this flesh of ours, but in Him, — the Lord 
our God, — who of old bound up the demon and cast him 
forth into the desert of Ethiopia. So can we bind, with Him, 
these unruly passions, and stem the flood of desire in our 
corrupt and polluted natures, and deny ourselves for, Him, 
who will enable, while He commands us to do it ) and to 
cast forth the demon into the outer world that is so fitted for 
him. 

Finally comes the pride of life ) — the third enemy. Ambi- 
tion, the self-reliance, the pride of man, the pride that refuses 
to be dictated to. " Why" — that pride says — " why should 
I submit to the commands of religion 1 Why, it tells me I 
should go like a little child, and prepare myself, and go to 
confession ! Why, it tells me I should go through these 
devotions that are only fit for women and nuns ! Why 
should I fast and suffer hunger ? I have all things 
around me. Do not I find such and such texts in 
Scripture that tell me, 1 All things are good ? ' Why shall 
I abstain from any thing ? Why should I not have my own 
way, and reject all authority, human and Divine ? and, first 
of all, the law that man must bear the obedience, humility, 
and mortification of Jesus Christ in him if he would be 
saved V 7 Will you be able to contend against this pride ? this 
pride that carries away the best and highest of earth's chil- 
dren ? No ! You will never be able to contend against it. to 
keep the humility of your intellect, the fidelity of your faith, 
unless you feed upon Him who is the source of all virtue and 



THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 



323 



all life.. And thus, it is only by the same means that Christ 
has effected in the Incarnation, — by G-od uniting Himself in 
our nature in Christ, — that He also effects our sanctification 
in the Holy Communion. Therefore it accomplishes at once 
all the designs of God. 

I have done my duty. I have finished my theme. Nothing 
remains for me but to remind the Catholics who are here, — 
the Catholics of this city, — the Catholic men who were 
nourished in the Catholic faith, and derived that faith from 
Catholic — and manv amongst them from Irish — mothers, — 
to remind you that, for three hundred years of persecution 
and death, it was the Holy Communion, and Ireland's devotion 
to it, that kept the faith alive in our fathers. They resisted 
that pride of life. The world came and declared to them 
that they should give up their faith. They said no, against 
the whole world. They kept their faith through Jesus 
Christ, in the Holy Communion. They resisted their passions 
and restrained them ; so that Ireland's purity, in the purity 
•of her daughters and the manliness of her sons, — (a virtue 
that always accompanies personal purity and purity of race), 
was unexcelled. They resisted even when titles and honors 
were ready to be showered upon them. And when high 
intellect w^as challenged to disprove the faith in which they 
believed, they bowed down before their time-honored altars 
and Ireland's faith in her religion was never stronger than 
in the days when she suffered most for it. I say to you, 
Catholics of New York, that no man can be saved from 
the world around him, from the flesh within, and the Devil 
that is beneath him, unless Jesus Christ be with him. 
I tell you, Catholics of New York, — men of New York, 
who only go once a year to Holy Communion, — that it 
would be almost better for you if you did not know the 
truth. If you want to know the explanation of your 
sins, — of the drunkenness around you, — of the impurity 
and savage assaults committed ; of all the quick, hasty 
crimes of which our Irish nature is more capable than of 
the meaner and more corrupt crimes. — the reason of it all 
is this, — that you are not frequent and fervent communicants. 
If you ask me for a rule, I find, although I go to Communion 
every day of my life, I have enough to do still to conquer 
my spiritual enemies. And, if I, a priest, have enough to 
contend with to be saved after receiving the Holy Communion 



324 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



every morning, — how can you be saved? If you ask me 
for a rule I will give it in a few words : I believe every 
man who wishes to have the peace of Christ, and live in His 
Christian holiness, and have Christ brought forth in him ; — 
that man should be ? at least ; a monthly communicant. 



THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF THE CHUEOH. 



[A Sermon delivered by Very Bev. T. N. Burke, O.P., in the Church of 
St. Vincent Ferrer, June 16, 1872. ] 

"At that time it came to pass that, when the multitude pressed 
upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth. 
And he saw two ships standing by the lake; but the fishermen were 
gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And going up into one 
of the ships that was Simon's, he desired him to draw back a little from 
the land. And sitting, he taught the multitude out of the ship. Now 
when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon : Launch out into the 
deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering 
said to him : Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken 
nothing ; but at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had 
done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net 
broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other 
ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled 
both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. Which when Simon 
Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knee, saying : Depart from me, for I 
am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was wholly astonished, and all that 
were with him, at the draught of the fishes that were taken. And so 
were also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's 
partners. And Jesus saith to Simon : Fear not ; from henceforth thou 
shalt catch men. And having brought their ships to land, leaving all 
things, they followed him." — Luke V, 1-11. 

When we read the positive doctrines laid down in the 
Gospel, we are bound to open our minds to the utterances of 
the Almighty God. We are also bound to meditate upon 
even what appear to be the most trifling incidents recorded 
in the actions and sayings of Jesus Christ. Every word that 
is recorded of Him has a deep and salutary meaning. There 
is not one word in the Gospel, nor one incident, that is not 
full of instruction for us : and the evidence that this Gospel 
gives of the divinity of the Christian religion, and of the 
divine origin of the Church, lies not only in the broad asser- 
tion, — such, for instance, as where Christ says : "I will build 
my Church upon a rock j and the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it \ }} or ; elsewhere : "He that will not hear the 
Church, let him be to thee as a heathen and a publican ; " 
but these evidences lie also in the minor incidents which are 



326 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



so carefully and minutely recorded, from time to time, "by the 
Evangelists. Now I ask you to consider, in this spirit, the 
Gospel which I have just read to you. St. Peter, — who was 
afterwards the Pope of Rome, — began life as a fisherman, on 
the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He had his boats, he had 
his nets : he swept those waters, pursuing his humble trade 
in company with James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and 
with Andrew, his own elder brother. These men had passed 
the night upon the bosom of the waters, toiling and laboring ; 
but they had taken nothing. Sad and dispirited for so much 
time and labor lost, they landed from their boats in the 
morning ; and they took out their nets to wash them. While 
they were thus engaged, a great multitude appeared in sight, 
— men who followed the Lord Jesus Christ, and pressed 
around Him, that they might hear the words of divine truth 
from His lips. He came to the shores of the lake, and He 
entered into one of the boats ; and the Evangelist takes good 
care to tell us that the boat into which the Saviour stepped 
was Simon Peter's boat. He then commanded Peter to push 
out a little from the land that He might have a little water 
between Him and the people, and yet not remove Himself so 
far from them but that they might hear His voice. There, 
— while the people stood reverently listening to the law of 
the divine Redeemer, — sat the Saviour in Peter's boat, in- 
structing the multitude. After He had enlightened their 
minds with the treasures of the divine wisdom which flowed 
from Him, He turned to Peter and said to him : " Launch out 
into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught of fishes." 
Said Peter, answering : " Master, we have labored all night; 
and we have taken nothing. However," he replied, " in Thy 
word I trust; and at Thy command I will let down the net." 
No sooner does he cast that net into the sea, under the eyes, 
and at the command of Jesus Christ, than it is instantly filled 
with fishes, and Peter's boat is filled until it is almost sink- 
ing. This is the fact recorded. What does it mean ? What 
is the meaning of this passage in the Gospel ? Has it any 
meaning at all ? Was it prophetic of things that were to be? 
Oh, my brethren, how significant and how prophetic, in the 
history of this Christian religion, and in the Church, was the 
action of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospel. "He sat 
in Peter's boat, and from that boat He taught the people." 
What does this mean ! What is this barque of Peter ? Need 



THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF THE CHURCH. 327 



I tell you, my Catholic friends and beloved brethren, what 
this barque of Peter meant ? Christ our Lord built unto Him- 
self His Church ! He made her so that she was never to be 
shipwrecked upon the stormy waves of this world. He built 
her so that He Himself shall be always present in her, al- 
though Peter sat at the helm. He built her so that it was 
her fate to be launched out upon the ever-changing, ever- 
agitated, and stormy sea of this world and its society. He 
declared that Peter should be at the head of this ship, when 
He said to him : " Feed thou My lambs ; feed thou My 
sheep f 11 Confirm thou thy brethren f u I will make you to 
be fishers of men f "Launch out into the deep, and let down 
your nets for a draught." 

St. Peter himself, inspired of the Holy Ghost, in after times 
taught that the Church of God is like a goodly ship, built 
by Jesus Christ, in which were to be saved all those that are 
to be saved unto the end of time ; for he compares this ship 
to the Ark of Noah, in which all who were saved in the great 
Deluge found their refuge ; for, he says, all were destroyed 
and perished, save and except the eight souls wdio received 
shelter in the Ark of Noah ; and the rest were tossed upon 
the stormy, tumultuous billows of the Deluge • — thrown upon 
the tide ; — and as the waters rose up around them in a mighty 
volume, the strong man went down into the vasty deep, the 
infant sent forth a cry, and presently its cry was stifled in 
the surging waves. All was desolation 5 all was destruction, 
save and except the Ark, which rode triumphant over the 
waters, passed over the summits of the mountains, braving the 
storms of heaven above and the angry waves beneath, until 
it landed its living freight of eight human souls in safety and 
in joy. So, also, Christ our Lord built unto Him a ship — 
His Church • He launched this Church forth upon the stormy 
waves of the world, and it is a matter of surprise that this 
ocean of human society has not welcome for the Church of 
God. Men ask, "Is Christianity a failure! Why are so 
few saved? Why are so few found to comply with the con- 
ditions which the Holy Church commands f Why, if she 
received the commission to command the whole world, and 
to convert them, why is it that this Church of God seems to 
have always been persecuted and abused V\ 

Oh ! my friends, there is a deep and profound analogy 
between the things of nature and the things of grace. The 



328 



FATHER BTJRKWS DISCOURSES. 



goodly ship is built upon the stocks ; she is strongly built, 
of the very best material 5 she is sheathed and plated with 
every thing that can keep her from the action of the seas ; she 
is built so that, in every line, she shall cleave through the 
waters and override them ; and, when she is all prepared, she 
is launched out into the deep ; and her mission is to spread 
her sails, and navigate every sea to the farthermost end of the 
world. Through all of them must she go; over them all must 
she ride ; a thousand storms must she brave ; and that ocean 
that receives her in its bosom, apparently receives her only 
for the purpose of tossing her from wave to wave, of trying 
her strength, of trying every timber and every joint, opening 
its mighty chasms to swallow her up and, failing in that, dash- 
ing its angry waves against her, as if, in the order of nature, 
the ship and the sea were enemies, and that the ocean that 
received that vessel was bent upon her destruction. Is 
it not thus in the order of nature ? is it not this very stormy 
ocean, these mighty, foam-crested billows, these angry, roar- 
ing waves, the thunder that rolls, and the lightnings which 
flash around her, — is it not all these that try and prove the 
goodness of the ship ; and if she outlive them, if she is assur- 
edly able to override them all, and to land her freight and her 
passengers in the appointed port, — is it not a proof that she 
is well built ¥ If the ocean were as smooth as glass ; if the 
winds were always favorable ; if no impediment came upon 
her 5 if no waves struck her and tried to roll her back, or no 
chasm opened to receive her into its mighty watery bosom ; 
what proof would we have that the ship was the making of 
the master hand, under the care of master minds ? And so 
Christ, our Lord, built the ship of His Church, and launched 
her out upon the world ; and from the very nature of the case 
it was necessary that, from the very first day that she set forth 
until the last day, when she lands her freight of souls in the 
harbor of Heaven, she should meet, upon the ocean of this 
world of human society, the stormy waves of angry contra- 
diction on every side. This was her destiny ; and this, unfor- 
tunately, is the destiny that the world takes good care to 
carry out. 

Men say, Christianity is a failure, because this Church has 
not been enabled to calm every sea, and ride triumphant, 
without let or hindrance, upon every ocean. I answer, my 
friends, Christianity would have been a failure if the ship had 



THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF THE CHURCH. 329 



keen wrecked ; Oliristianity would be a failure if there was 
ai\y ocean into which that ship was afraid to enter ; Christi- 
anity would be a failure if that ship were known at any time, 
at any moment of her existence, since the day she was built 
and rigged by Divine wisdom and the Divine Architect, 
Christ, — if she were known for an instant to have gone down ; 
for a moment to have let the angry waters of persecution and 
error close over her head : then would Christianity be a 
failure. But this could not be, for two reasons. First of 
all, because the helmsman, whom Christ appointed, is at the 
wheel j and he is Peter, and Peter's successor. Second, be- 
cause, in the ship, — Himself seated in her, and speaking in 
her, casting out the nets that are to gather in all those who 
come on board, and are to be saved, — is Christ, the Lord, that 
God. The great lessons that are in this Gospel are, our 
Peter's boat cannot be wrecked, because Christ, our Lord, us 
in her ; Peter's boat cannot be emptied of the living freight 
of souls, because He is in her who commanded the net to be 
cast out until the boat was filled. Peter's boat cannot be 
destroyed, because Peter himself, in his successor, is at 
the helm. And this boat of Peter's is the Holy Roman 
Catholic Church. In no other ship launched out upon this 
stormy ocean of the world is the voice 'of God heard. In 
every other vessel it is the voice of man that commands the 
crew 5 it is the hand of man that turns the ship's prow to 
face the storm ; it is the hand of man that built the ship, and, 
consequently, every other ship of doctrine that has ever been 
launched out on the waves of this world has gone down in 
shipwreck and in destruction 5 whereas, the oldest of all, the 
holy Catholic Church, lives upon the waves to-day, as fair to 
the eye, floating as triumphantly the standard, spreading as 
wide a sail, as in the days when she came forth from the 
master hand of Jesus Christ, our Lord. In her the word and 
voice of God are heard. Christ sat in Peter's boat ) and 
Christ sits in Peter's boat to-day ; we have His own word 
for it : " And Heaven and earth," He says, " shall pass 
away, but My word shall not pass away ) and My word is 
this 5 I am with you all days, until the consummation of the 
world." But, for what purpose, did we ask, " Art Thou 
with us?" He answers and says: "I am with you to lead 
you to all truth ) to keep you in all truth ; to teach you all 
truth j and to command you, that even as I have taught 



330 



FATHER BURKE'S DISCOURSES. 



you, so go yon and teach all nations whatsoever things I 
have taught yon." 

The voice of Christ is in the Church j the voice of God 
has never ceased to resound in her ; the voice of God has 
never been silent, from the day that Mary's Child first opened 
His infant lips upon Mary's bosom, until the last hour of the 
world's existence. That voice is misinterpreted ; that voice is 
sometimes misunderstood. Men say, here is the voice of 
God, and there is the voice of God ) the people lift up their 
voices with loud demands, sometimes against law, sometimes 
against right and justice ,• and the time-serving politician and 
statesman says : "It is the voice of the people 5 it is the 
voice of God. Vox pqpuli, vox DeiP But the voice of the 
people is not the voice of God. There is, indeed, the voice 
of God resounding on the earth ; but it is only heard in the 
unerring Church : therefore we may say with truth, " Vox 
ecclesice, vox Dei ; 73 the voice of the Church is the voice of 
God. Wherever the voice of God is ? there no lie can be ut- 
tered, no untruth can be taught, no falsehood can be preached ) 
wherever the voice of God is, there is a voice that never for 
an instant contradicts itself in its teachings 5 for it is only 
enunciating one truth, derived from one source, the mind, the 
heart of the infinite wisdom of the Almighty. Where is the 
evidence in history of a voice that has ever spoken on this 
earth, which has never contradicted itself, except the voice 
of the Catholic Church ? I defy you to find it. There is 
not a system of religion which pretends to teach the people 
at this moment upon the earth, that has not flagrantly contra- 
dicted itself, save and except the holy Catholic Church of 
Jesus Christ. Take any one of them and test it. Where is 
the voice that teaches with authority save and except in the 
Catholic Church ? Remember wherever the voice of God is, 
there that voice must teach with authority ) wherever the 
voice of God is it must teach with certainty and clearness 
and emphasis, not leaving any thing in doubt, not allowing 
the people to be under any misapprehension. Where is that 
voice to be heard to-dav save and except in the holy Cath- 
olic Church ? 

Men ask, " Is Christianity a failure V 1 I answer, No ! It 
will be a failure as soon as that voice of the Catholic Church 
is hushed 5 it will be a failure as soon as some King or some 
Emperor or some great statesman, successful in war and in 



THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF THE CHURCH. 331 



council, is able to bend the Catholic Church and make her 
teach according to his notions or his views. Where, in her 
history, has she ever bowed to king or potentate ? Where 
has she ever shaped her doctrines to meet the views of this 
man, or to further the designs of this other man because 
they were able to persecute her, as they are persecuting her 
to-day ? The most powerful man of the world says to the 
Catholic Church, " You must remodel your teachings ; yon 
must alter some of your dogmas and some of your material 
principles ; you must admit that the State has a right to 
educate the children • that you have no right ; you must 
admit that religion is not a necessary element of education ; 
I will make you do it." Thus speaks Von Bismarck. He 
imagines because he has put his foot upon the neck of the 
bravest and most heroic race upon earth, that now he can 
trample upon the Church of God. Oh ! fool that he is ! oh, 
foolish man ! He thinks, because he has trampled upon a 
nation, that he can trample upon Christ and His holy Spouse. 
He says to the Church : "I will make a decree, and I will expel 
every Jesuit in Germany : I will persecute your Bishops : I 
wall take your churches ; I will alienate your people ; I will 
persecute and imprison your priests ; I will put them to 
death if necessary. 77 But the Church of God stands calmly 
before him, and says : " You can do all this, but you 
cannot make me change my teaching ; I am God 7 s mes- 
senger, and God is truth! 77 Christ speaks in Peter's boat. 
It is true there are many who will not hear His voice. I 
ask you what is their, fate? What is their fate who re- 
fuse to hear the voice of the true Church? They appeal 
to the Scriptures. In this morning's New York Herald, 
there is a letter from a man who denies the immortality 
of the soul: and he proves it by " -five texts from Scrip- 
ture. 77 The very truth that Plato, the pagan philosopher, 
wrote a book to prove, — a man who had never heard the 
name of God 5 who had never known the light of God 5 — by 
the natural light of his benighted, pagan intellect arrived at 
the conclusion that the soul was immortal, and that its immor- 
tality was inherent, and belonged to it as its nature. 
That which the pagan philosopher discovered and proved, 
the Christian of to-day denies ; and he quotes " five texts of 
Scripture 7 ' to prove that the soul of man is not immortal ; and 
that men when they die, even in their sins, cease to exist j that 



332 



FATHER BUBKE'S DISCOUBSES. 



there is no judgment, no consequences, no vengeance ; for 
them no torments ; they have no hell. He proves it by the 
Scripture, and gives the lie to Him who said: " Depart from 
me, ye accursed, into everlasting flames." That is the fate 
of all those outside the Catholic Church. They are tossed 
about by every whim and caprice of doctors, who now start 
one theory and then another ) who now dispute the inspira- 
tion of the Scripture, and again the divinity of Jesus Christ ; 
who now deny the immortality of the soul, and then come 
and abuse me, and the like of me, because I tell them that, 
until they step on board of Peter's boat, they have no security, 
no certainty, no true light, no true religion, and that they 
must go down. We are called bigots, because we preach 
the Word of God, and refuse to change our teaching to suit 
the varying views of men. If the Church preach not the truth, 
then where is the use of having a Church at all J ? But if the 
Church teach the truth, if she come with a message from 
God, it is not in her power, nor in my power, nor in any man's 
power, to change it. I come to preach to you the very words 
of Christ : " He that will not hear the Church, let him be as 
a heathen and a publican.' 7 If I come, then, and say, u It 
is not necessary to hear the Catholic Church 5 if you love 
the Lord and believe, it is all right 5 " if I say that, I am 
telling a lie, and I am damning my own soul. I cannot do it. 
I must preach the message which Christ our Lord has given 
me. I should be glad to preach a wider faith, if God would 
let me ; but I must preach the message of God. If they 
steel their hearts and turn their ears against our doctrines, 
God will hold them accountable, for He has said : " He that 
believeth not shall be condemned." 

Not only, my brethrenpis the voice of Christ heard in 
that Church in the truth which has never changed nor con- 
tradicted itself ; but the second great action of the Church 
of God is prefigured in our Divine Lord's action in this day's 
Gospel. "Peter," He said, "launch out thy boat into the 
deep, and let down thy nets for a draught." It is no 
longer a question of preaching. The people have heard the 
Lord's voice ; they have retired from the shores of the lake, 
and scattered themselves to their homes, each one taking 
with him whatever of that word fell upon the soil of a good 
heart. Xow, the next operation begins ; and it is between 
Christ and Peter. "Launch out into the deep," He says; 



THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF THE CHURCH. 333 

u cast forth thy net." Peter cast out his net, and he filled 
his boat with fishes. What does this mean ? It means the 
prefiguration of the saving and sacramental action of the 
Church of God ; for not only is the voice of Christ heard, 
but the action of Christ is at work in her, taking you, and 
me, and all men who will submit to that action, out of the 
waters of passion and impurity, and vain desire, and every 
form of sin, and lifting us up by sacramental action, out of 
those waters, and placing us in the the ship under His very 
eyes, — in the light of His sanctity and the brightness of His 
glory. His action lies in the Catholic Church; and she alone 
can draw forth from the stormy, destructive waters of sin, 
the soul that will submit to be so drawn. A man falls into 
that sea ; — a man, — like Peter, in another portion of the 
Gospel, — the Christian man, — treading upon the fluctuating 
waves of his own passion, of his own evil desire and wicked- 
ness, can scarcely keep his footing, and can only do it as 
long as he fixes his eye upon J esus Christ, and adheres to 
Him. But a moment comes, as it came to Peter, when the 
waves seem to divide under our feet, when man is sinking, 
sinking into the waves of his own passions, of his own base- 
ness, into the waves of his own corrupt nature, when he feels 
that these waves are about closing over him. He is lost 
to the sight of God ; and he sees Him no more. God sees 
him no more with the eyes of love ; God sees him no more 
with the eyes of predilection. He has lost his past with all 
its graces, and his future with all its hopes ; he has gone 
down in the great ocean of human depravity and human sin ; 
and he has sunk deeply into these waters of destruction. 
Oh ! what hand can save him ? what power can touch him ? 
The teacher of a false religion comes with his message of 
trust and confidence ; comes with message of glozing and 
ftatterv ; comes to tell this fallen, sinful man : u You are an 

•/ 7 7 

honest man ; you are an amiable man ; you have many good 
gifts; be not afraid; trust in the Lord; it is all right;" 
while the serpent of impurity is poisoning his whole existence. 

Oh ! that I had the voice of ten thousand thunders of 
God, that I might stifle the false teachings, and drown the 
voice of those who are poisoning the people by pandering to 
their vices and flattering their vanity, and not able — nor 
willing, even if able — to teach the consequences of their 
sins ! The Catholic Church alone, ignoring whatever of 



334 FA TREE BUB EE'S DISCOURSES. 



good there may be in a man, if she finds him in mortal sin, 
lavs her hand upon that sin • she makes the man touch him- 
self with his own hand, look at himself, and realize his 
miseries. She tears away the bandages with which his self- 
love conceals the wound ; and then, with her sacramental 
power, she cuts put all that proud and corrupt flesh • she 
cleanses the wound with the saving blood of Jesus Christ ; 
she brings him forth from out that slough, that cesspool 
of impurhy and wickedness, and cures him, and brings him 
forth with the tears of sorrow on his face, with a new-born 
love of God in his heart, in the whiteness of his baptismal 
innocence ; and he is now no longer in the wiles of hell, but 
he takes his place and lifts up his eyes in gladness before the 
Lord. What other Church can do that ? What other religion 
even pretends to do it, and does it ? In her Sacraments she 
does it. Her sacramental hand will, though sin be sunk into 
his blood, go down and sweep the very bottom of the deep 
lake of iniquity, and take even those who lie there, fossilized 
in their sin, and scrape them up from out the very depths of 
their misery, and make them fit for God once more. As they 
are out of the way of salvation who hear not the voice of the 
Church — the voice of Christ — so, also, these Catholics are 
outside of the way of salvation who will not come and submit 
to her cleansing and sacramental power, who refuse to open 
their souls to her, who refuse to come frequently and fervently 
to her confessional, and to her communion table. To do 
that is as bad as if they refused even to hear her voice, even 
as if they disputed her testimony. The bad Catholic is in 
as bad a position, and in even a worse position, than that of 
the poor man who disputes and raises questions as to whether 
the soul is immortal, and as to whether- Jesus Christ is God. 

Oh, my brethren, let us be wise in time ; let us have the 
happiness to know and to hear the voice that speaks in the 
Church. Oh, let us lay ourselves open to her sacramental 
power and bare our bosoms to her sanctifying touch and 
cleansing hand, that so we may be guided into the treasures 
of her choicest and best gifts ; that so, if we have not the in- 
effable gift of purity, if we have sinned, we may at least have 
our robes washed in the waters of grace, and restored to their 
first brightness through Jesus Christ, who is our Saviour; and, 
in this hope, let us pass the few remaining days of our lives 
here, sharing in our mother's struggles; taking a hand in her 



THE DIVINE COMMISSION OF THE CHURCH. 335 



quarrels ; weathering with her every storm that bursts over 
us, in the confidence that she is destined to triumph and to 
ride in safety over the crest of every opposing wave. It will 
not always be so. The haven is at hand. The Church Mili- 
tant passes from the angry ocean of her contests into the 
calm and quiet haven of her triumph. Oh, in that harbor, 
no stormy winds shall ever blow ; no angry waves shall ever 
raise their foaming crests ) there and only there, when the 
night, with its tempests and storms of persecution and of 
difficulty — the night with its buffetings upon the black face 
of the angry ocean, — when all that has been passed through, 
in the morning shall the Christian come to catch, a glimpse of 
his eternity. Then will he hear the voice of Him who was 
present in the storm, saying to the waves: "Be still! Be 
calm ! " and to the stormy winds howling around, " Depart. 
Leave us in peace." Then the clouds shall fade, and every 
ripple shall cease ; and there on that ocean, which was so 
stormy, every angry gust of wind shall die away into per- 
fect calm • and, in the distant horizon before us, we shall 
behold the Church Triumphant, — while, like the spread of 
the illimitable ocean, we see that pacific ocean of God's 
eternity illumined by the sunshine of His blessedness. And 
there shall be every beauty and happiness. All that shall 
be ours if we only fight the good fight, if we onl\ r keep the 
faith, and the commands of God delivered to us by His holy 
Church, 



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